Martin, Jr., Richard v. Cambridge, City of - Office of the City Solicitor (SPR 20150547)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division September 30, 2015 Shawn A. Williams Supervisor of& cords SPRlS/547 Ms. Anne Sturman City of Cambridge Office of the City Solicitor 795 Massachusetts A venue Cambridge, Massachusetts 0213 9 Dear Ms. Sturman: I have received the petition ofRichard B. Martin, Jr. appealing the response of City of Cambridge (City) to his request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1O (b ); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Martin requested copies of the full names, business title and email addresses of each member of the City Police Review and Advisory Board (Board). In a response dated July 6, 2015 the City informed Mr. Martin of: where he could find a list of the Board members; informed him of the business address of all the Board's members; and told him that Board members can be emailed through the Board's Executive Secretary. The basis of Mr. Martin's petition is that the City's response failed to satisfy his request. The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c); 950 C.M.R. 32.08(4). "Public records" is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any town of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26). 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, § 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. It is unclear from the City's response whether records exist responsive to Mr. Martin's request. Accordingly, the City is hereby ordered to review its records determine whether it possesses any records responsive to his requests, and within ten (1 0) days of this order, to provide Mr. Martin with the requested records. If the City maintains that any portion of any records located responsive to Mr. Martin's are exempt from disclosure it must, within ten (1 0) days provide to Mr. Martin a written explanation, with specificity, how a particular exemption applies to each record. To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. A copy of any such response must be provided to this office. It is preferable to send an electronic copy ofthis response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/ pre

Ms. Anne Sturman SPR15/547 Page Two September 30, 2015 If there are any fees associated with this response a written, good faith estimate must be provided. G. L. c. 66, § 10(a); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(2) (where cost of complying with a request for public records is expected to exceed ten dollars ($10.00), custodian of records shall provide written good faith estimate). Once the fees are paid, yo ust provide the responsive records. cc: Mr. Richard Martin, Jr.