Chicopee Mayor Richard Kos: Electronic mayoral files were deleted when he took office; seeks state investigation

Chicopee Mayor Richard Kos said IT experts found 28,000 emails had been deleted from the mayoral office computers.

CHiCOPEE — Mayor Richard J. Kos is asking the state attorney general, inspector general and secretary of state to investigate missing emails and electronic files that were deleted before he took office Jan. 6.

In his first days on the job, Kos said, he and his staff found all the computers in the mayor's office had been electronically scrubbed and some files that had been properly moved to other locations were also deleted.

Information technology experts who work for the city said they found evidence that 28,000 emails had been deleted from the mayoral office computers, Kos said.

Under the state public records law, all emails and working files must be preserved.

While there is a process to legally eliminate files, it must be done through the Secretary of State's office, and there is no evidence that permission was sought, City Solicitor Marshall Moriarty said.

Kos took office after an election battle with eight-year incumbent Mayor Michael D. Bissonnette. Kos had previously served as the city's mayor from 1994 to 2007.