Bell, Daniel v. Great Barrington, Town of - Department of Public Works (SPR 20150102)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams April 15, 2015 Supervisor ofR ecords SPRlS/102 Mr. Edwin May Town of Great Barrington 20 Castle Street (Old Fire Station- 2nd Floor) Great Barrington, MA 01230 Dear Mr. May: I have received the petition of Daniel Bell appealing the response of Town of Great Barrington- Building Department (Department) to his request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 10(b); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Mr. Bell requested copies of Department records regarding 78 Egremont Road and 195 State Road both in the Town of Great Barrington. The basis of Mr. Bell's appeal is that as ofFebruary 15,2015 he had not received a response from the Department. Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within ten (1 0) days of the request. G. L. c. 66, § 1O (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 Department is advised that all records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. On March 12, 2015 an attorney on my staff emailed you a copy of Mr. Bell's request. Thereafter you confirmed in a telephone conversation that the Department will be providing Mr. Bell with a response to his request for records. Whereas this matter was opened based upon the Department's failure to provide a written response, I will now consider this administrative appeal closed on the proviso that the Department provides its response w'thin ten (10) days of receipt of this order. Supervisor ofRecords cc: Mr. Daniel Bell OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832. Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma.us/pre