Eoin Higgins v. Lanesborough, Town of (SPR 20160168)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords March 18,2016 SPR16/168 Mr. Paul Sieloff Town Administrator Town ofLanesborough Newton Memorial Town Hall 83 North Main Street P.O. Box 1492 Lanesborough, MA 01237 Dear Mr. Sieloff: I have received the petition of Eoin Higgins of The Berkshire Courier appealing the response of the Town ofLanesborough (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, on February 24,2016, Eoin Higgins requested to review or copies of all email communications ( emails) sent to and received by Town officials, employees and boards/commission members relating to the Mount Greylock Regional High School building project and the anonymous website, mgrhsrenovation.org. The Town provided a few emails and Eoin Higgins appealed, contending that the Town has additional responsive emails that have not been provided. 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). The Town was provided with not only the request but also an acknowledgment from this office dated March 10,2016, providing an appeal number and notice that a public records appeal had been opened by this office. An attorney on my staff telephoned the Town Clerk Ruth A Knysh on March 15, but was unable to reach Ms. Knysh directly. A follow-up email was sent to Ms. Knysh and to you with an attached copy of the appeal file. OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/ pre

Mr. Paul Sieloff SPR16/168 Page 2 March 18, 2016 Email records -Maintenance of records In the petition for an appeal, Eoin Higgins states a resident of the Town may have sent an email to all Town officials, employees and members of the boards and commissions in the Town that would be responsive to his request. There is a presumption that all emails that are sent to and received by a government entity and any officials, employees and members of any board or commission of that government entity are public records, subject to disclosure. A review of the materials provided by Eo in Higgins raises questions regarding the records management practices of the Town, in particular whether email correspondence by Town officials and employees are being retained for appropriate periods of time prior to destruction. Safeguards must be instituted by the Town to ensure that all records are retained in accordance with both applicable law as well as the retention schedules promulgated by this office. G. L. c. 66, § 8; G. L. c. 66, § 13; G. L. c. 66, § 15. To assist the Town in meeting its burden, I advise that the Town review the Records Retention Manual, available free of charge online at www.sec.state.ma.us/arc/arcrmu/ rmuidx.htm. I find the Town has failed to thoroughly respond to a request for public records. Accordingly, the Town is hereby ordered to conduct a diligent search to determine whether any additional responsive records exist. Furthermore, the Town is hereby ordered to, within ten (10) days of this order, to provide Eoin Higgins with a revised response to the request for public records, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations. 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. Higgins 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. 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 Town in responding to requests for public records I advise the Town to review 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.

Mr. Paul Sieloff SPR16!168 Page 3 March 18, 2016 In addition, members of my staff will visit a records custodian in person to conduct training workshops on the Public Records Law upon e . Please contact my office directly at the telephone number below for further information. . Williams cc: Mr. Eoin Higgins