Feathers, Todd v. Worcester, City of - Police Department (SPR 20150147)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A Williams Supervisor ofR ecords May 6, 2015 SPRlS/147 Chief Gary J. Gemme City of Worcester Police Department 9-11 Lincoln Street Worcester, MA 01608-1172 Dear Chief Gemme: I have received the petition of Todd Feathers ofthe Lowell Sun appealing the written estimate the City of Worcester Police Department (Department), provided in response to his request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1O (b ); 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Mr. Feathers requested electronic copies of the "Equitable Sharing Agreement and Certification" forms from 2009 through 2014 which were electronically filed by the Department with the United States Department of Justice. Mr. Feathers asked the Department to send the forms in native format via email. Basis ofA ppeal On February 4, 2015, the Department's Bureau of Professional Standards provided Mr. Feathers with a written faith estimate for complying with the public records request. The Department's estimate lists (1) hour for search and segregation at $43.74 per hour, thirty-three (33) pages of records at $1.00 per page, and $5.00 for postage. The total cost is $81.74. Mr. Feathers appealed this estimate. In his petition, Mr. Feathers explained that several other Massachusetts communities provided electronic copies of the records at no cost. Requestfor Fee Waiver Mr. Feathers requested that the Department waive any fees associated with his request for public records. The Regulations encourage records custodians to waive fees when such a waiver is in the public interest; however, this office may not compel a records custodian to do so. See 950 C.M.R. 32.06. Accordingly, the Department is not required to waive fees, so long as written estimates for fees are provided in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Regulations. Fees for Police Department Records A custodian of records may assess a reasonable fee for complying with a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(a); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(2) (where cost of complying with One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832. Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/pre

Chief Gary J. Gemme SPR15/147 Page Two May 6, 2015 a request for public records is expected to exceed ten dollars ($10.00), custodian of records shall provide written good faith estimate). Absent specific statutory authority to the contrary, the fees to be charged for complying with requests for public records are established by the Regulations. See 950 C.M.R. 32.06. Under the Regulations, a custodian of records may assess a maximum fee of twenty cents ($.20) per page for a photocopy of a public record and fifty cents ($.50) per page for a computer printout of a public record. See 950 C.M.R. 32.06(1)(a). In its response the Department assessed a fee of $1.00 per page for computer-generated paper copies of responsive records. However, the response did not specifically reference any authority to justify this higher per-page rate. The Department has, therefore, failed to meet its burden of specificity under the law in its response to Mr. Feathers. Furthermore, while the records may be retained within the Department's Bureau of Professional Standards, search time assessed at the hourly rate of$43.74 is excessive. Whereas, the records may be found on the computer, any employee with knowledge in using a computer is capable of quickly retrieving and sending the requested forms to Mr. Feathers via email. Therefore, I will assume that the lowest paid clerical employee's hourly rate will be used to conduct the search, and at a minimum of time. Accordingly, the Department is hereby ordered to provide Mr. Feathers with a revised fee estimate to properly reflect the cost for searching for and providing an electronic copy of the forms in compliance with the Public Records Law and Access Regulations. The revised estimate must be provided to Mr. Feathers within ten (10) days. This administrative appeal is closed. illiams Supervisor of Records cc: Mr. Todd Feathers