Davison, Andrew v. Sandwich, Town of (SPR 20140192)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords April 8, 2014 SPR14/192 Mr. George H. Dunham Town Manager Town of Sandwich 130 Main Street Sandwich MA, 02537 Dear Mr. Dunham: I have received the petition of Andrew Davison appealing the response of the Town of Sandwich (Town) to his request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1O (b ); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Mr. Davison requested a copy of an internal affairs investigation. In the Town's response you denied providing the responsive record claiming Exemptions (a) and (c) of the Public Records Law. Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within ten (10) days of the request. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b); 950 C.M.R. 32.05. The response may be an offer to provide records, a fee estimate for provision of the records, or a denial. The Town is advised that all records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. The Public Records Law states that "the burden shall be upon the custodian to prove with specificity the exemption which applies." G. L. c. 66, § 10(c) (emphasis added). See also Globe Newspaper Co. v. Police Comm'r, 419 Mass. 852, 857 (1995); see also District Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995). The response by the Town did not contain the specificity required in a denial of access to public records. Accordingly, the Town is advised that to comply with the Public Records Law and its Regulations it must provide specificity with respect to any denial of access to public records. This requires a records custodian to not only cite an exemption, but to specifically explain the applicability of the exemption to the requested records. OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832. Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma.us/pre

Mr. George H. Dunham SPR14/192 Page Two April 8, 2014 Accordingly, the Town is hereby ordered, within ten (10) days of this order, to provide Mr. Davison with the requested records, or provide to this office, with specificity, how a particular exemption applies to each record. If the Town is planning to charge for the cost of complying with this public records request, Mr. Davison must be provided with a detailed written, good faith estimate on each particular request. Once the Town receives the estimate funds, the records must be provided. Failure to comply with this administrative order may result in the filing of a complaint for enforcement in the Superior Court by Mr. Davison. Supervisor of Records cc: Mr. Andrew Davison