Russell F. Denver v. East Longmeadow, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20160069)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords March 1, 2016 SPR16/069 Mr. James Donahue, Esq. Town of East Longmeadow 60 Center Square East Longmeadow, MA 01028 Dear Attorney Donahue: I have received the petition of Russell Denver appealing the response of the Town of Longmeadow (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1O (b ); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Mr. Denver requested a listing of all lawsuits, a listing of all grievances and total costs to the Town associated with voter fraud investigation and a subsequent conviction of a member of the Town Board of Selectmen. Mr. Thomas Florence, on your advice, responded to Mr. Denver stating that the Town does not maintain a list of all lawsuits or grievances. In addition, Mr. Florence stated in his response that there were no documents responsive to the total costs to the Town associated with voter fraud investigation. There were several conversations between you and a member of my staff and a staff attorney. You requested that Mr. Denver be more specific in his request. Mr. Denver complied and submitted a clarified request dated February 10,2016. 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). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § 10 ( c); see also District Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). Subsequent to the opening of this appeal, the Town provided a supplemental response dated February 26, 2016. In this response, the Town provided certain records as well as a fee OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/ pre

Mr. James Donahue, Esq. SPR16/069 Page 2 March 1, 2016 estimate. However, Mr. Denver informed this office that several of the records provided were not responsive to his request. In addition, the fee estimate does not explain whether the Town used the hourly rate of the lowest paid person capable of performing the task, nor did it justify the amount of hours required to comply with the request. See 950 C.M.R. 32.03; 950 C.M.R. 32.06(1 )(c). Conclusion For the reasons discussed above, I find the Town has failed to respond to a request for public records. Accordingly, the Town is hereby ordered, within ten (1 0) days, to provide Mr. Denver with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations. This response must clarify whether the Town has any other records responsive to Mr. Denver's February 10 request. If the Town maintains that any portion of the responsive records are exempt from disclosure it must, within ten (1 0) days provide to Mr. Denver 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. To assist the Town in responding to requests for public records, I refer you to our publication, A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law. This document is 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 re~est. Please contact my office directly at the telephone number provided in this determinatio . r further information. i fi UJ)i, ry t ul cc: Mr. Russell Denver