Jones, Matthew v. Executive Office for Administration & Finance (SPR 20150175)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A Williams Supervisor ofR ecords April17, 2015 SPRlS/175 Ms. Kristen Lepore, Esq. Executive Office of Administration and Finance State House, Room 3 73 Boston, MA 02133 Dear Attorney Lepore: I have received the petition of Mathew D. Jones Esq., of the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA) appealing the response ofthe Executive Office of Administration and Finance (A&F) to its request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 10(b); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, on or about February 6, 2015 the MT A made six ( 6) public records requests to A&F requesting copies of records regarding several University ofMassachusetts Collective Bargaining Agreements. As of the date of Attorney Jones' petition he had not received a response to his requests from A&F. 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. As of the date of Attorney Jones' petition it had been over thirty (30) days and he had not received a response from A&F. A&F 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 ten-day provision is a maximum, rather than a minimum, time frame for complying with a public records request. Accordingly, A&F is hereby ordered, within ten (10) days ofthis order, to provide Attorney Jones with a proper response to his request for records in accordance with the Public Records Law, its Access Regulations and this determination. If A&F maintains that any portion of the responsive records are exempt from disclosure it must, within ten (10) days provide to Attorney Jones a written explanation, with specificity, how a icular exemption applies to each record. This administrative appeal is now closed. Supervisor of Records cc: Mr. Mathew D. Jones, Esq. OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832. Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma.us/pre