Ritter, Esq., William v. Westford, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20140725)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Willi= Supervisor ofR ecords March 18,2015 SPR14/725 Ms. Jodi Ross Town Manager Westford Town Hall 55 Main Street Westford, MA 01886 Dear Ms. Ross: I have received a petition from William J. Ritter, Esq. appealing the response of the Town of Westford (Town) to his August and September 2014 requests for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1O (b ); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Attorney Ritter requested a copy of all records associated with the "Agnew Property" located in the Town. After revisions to the request and response by both Attorney Ritter and the Town, Attorney Ritter appealed the Town's fee estimate. Fee Estimates A custodian of records may charge for the cost of providing records, however the fees must be reasonable and in compliance with the Public Records Law and its Access Regulations (Regulations). See 950 C.M.R. 32.00. In addition to the copying fee, the Regulations provide that in cases where search or segregation time is necessary a custodian of records may charge a pro-rated fee based on the hourly rate of the lowest paid employee who is capable of performing the task. 950 C.M.R. 32.06(1)(c). The Regulations define "search time" as the time needed to locate, pull from the file, copy and refile public records, and "segregation time" as the time used to redact data that is exempt from non-exempt material. 950 C.M.R. 32.03. The search and segregation fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. G. L. c. 66, § lO(a). Upon review of the fee estimates provided to Attorney Ritter on August 22 and 26, 2014, I find that the Town has not met its burden of explaining the need for search and printing by the Director of Land Use Management at $48.42 per hour, the Conservation/Resource Planner at $41.56 per hour, the Town Manager at $79.03 per hour, the Town Planner at $36.73 per hour, and three Permitting/Administrative Assistant's at $29.62 per hour and $29.15 per hour. In One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832. Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/ pre

Ms. Jodi Ross SPR14/725 Page Two March 18, 2015 addition, the Town has charged for copies of approximately 2,837 pages at $.20 per page. The Town has included 1.5 hours at $41.56 per hour to prepare the estimate for the public records request. While the Town is permitted to assess fees, it has failed to justify the need for twenty six hours and thirty minutes (26.5 hours) assessed for six different people at high hourly rates to conduct a search and print/copy records. Furthermore, the Town is not permitted assess a fee for preparing a response to a public records request, nor may the Town assess a fee for preparing a fee estimate. The task of answering public records requests and preparing fee estimates in response to those requests is a daily task of a government employee. Therefore, I find that the Town has not met its burden of providing proper good faith estimates. Accordingly, whereas the Town may recover fees for the search and segregation of public records, and further whereas the Town's estimates are deemed to be unreasonable and must be revised in accordance with the Regulations, the Town is hereby ordered to revise its fee estimate within ten (1 0) days in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and the Regulations. Once Attorney Ritter pays the estimate, the Town must provide him with the records. Supervisor of Records cc: William J. Ritter, Esq.