Patrick Higgins v. Swansea, Town of - Town Administrator (SPR 20160195)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords March 24, 2016 SPR16/195 Mr. John McAuliffe Town Administrator Town of Swansea 81 Main Street Swansea, MA 02777 Dear Mr. McAuliffe: I have received the petition of Patrick Higgins appealing the response of the Town of Swansea (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 10(b); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Mr. Higgins requested a copy of the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) for the Town. You responded to Mr. Higgins with a fee estimate for the requested records. Mr. Higgins is not appealing the fee estimate; however, he believes that the EOP is available in DVD format. Subsequent to the intervention by a member of my staff, you informed this office that no DVD exists. It is the duty of a record custodian to use his superior knowledge of the records to assist a requester in obtaining the records 950 C.M.R. 32.05(4). Accordingly, whereas there is no DVD responsive to this request, I will consider this administrative appeal closed. To assist in requesting and responding to requests for public records please refer 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 upo equest. Please contact my office directly at the telephone number provided in this det m1 t' n £ further information. cc: Mr. Patrick Higgins OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/pre