Peggy A. Wiesenberg v. Boston, City of - Law Department (SPR 20160020)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords January 25, 2016 SPR16/020 Mr. George T. Bahnan City of Boston - Law Department 1 City Hall Square, Room 615 Boston, MA 02201 Dear Mr. Bahnan: I have received the petition of Peggy Wiesenberg appealing the nomesponse of the City of Boston-Law Department (Department) to a December 23, 2015 request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 10(b); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Ms. Wiesenberg requested twelve (12) categories of records related to the "McKinsey & Company Report." Having received no response, Ms. Wiesenberg petitioned this office. 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. 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. Subsequent to the intervention by a member of my staff, this office was notified that the Department responded to Ms. Wiesenberg on January 20, 2016. In this response, the Department provided certain responsive records and indicated it would continue to fulfill the request "on a rolling basis." It is important to note that the response was not made in compliance with the timeliness requirements of the Public Records Law and its Access Regulations. The response, consisting of an acknowledgment of receipt ofthe request, is dated January 20, 2016 twenty-eight days after Ms. Wiesenberg's request. G. L. c. 4, § 7 (26); 950 C.M.R. 32 et seq. A record custodian must comply with a public records request as soon as is practicable, without umeasonable delay, and always within ten (10) calendar days. G. L. c. 66, § lO(a); 950 C.M.R. 32.05(2). OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/ pre

Mr. George T. Bahnan SPR16/020 Page2 January 25, 2016 Accordingly, the Department is hereby ordered, within ten (1 0) days of this order, to provide Ms. Wiesenberg with a substantive response to her December 23, 2015 request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations. If the Department maintains that any portion of the responsive records are exempt from disclosure it must, within ten (1 0) days provide to Ms. Wiesenberg 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 of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. Ms. Wiesenberg may appeal the substantive nature of the Department's response within ninety (90) days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). If there are any fees associated with this response a written, good faith estimate must be provided. G. L. c. 66, § 1O (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, you must provide the responsive records. To assist the Department in responding to requests for public records I have enclosed a copy of our publication, A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law. This document is also available on the Internet, free of charge, at http://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/prepdf/guide.pdf. Attorneys on my staff are available during regular business hours to answer general questions regarding the Public Records Law. In addition, members of my staff will visit a records custodian in person to conduct training workshops on the Public Records Law upon request. Please contact my office directly at the telephone number prov'ded in this determination for further information. Enclosure cc: Ms. Peggy Wiesenberg