William A. Moschella, Esq. v. Rowley, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20160201)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords April 7, 2016 SPR16/201 Mr. William A. Moschella, Sr., Esq. Monument Manor 20 Main Street,. 1st Floor Saugus, MA 01906-2340 Dear Attorney Moschella: I have received your petition appealing the response of the Town of Rowley Town Clerk (Town) to your request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1O (b ); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, on January 13,2016, you requested: 1. The notice of meeting posted by the Town ofRowley's Board ofRegistrars (Board of Registrars) prior to January 11, 2016 related to a joint meeting between the Town of Rowley Board of Selectmen and the Board of Registrars discussing an Essex Superior Court matter with a docket number 1667CV00001, and 2. All minutes and notices filed with the Town Clerk of open meetings conducted by the Board of Registrars starting November 14,2015 and ending on January 10, 2016. By letters dated January 19 and January 26,2016, ToWn Clerk Susan Hazen provided you with meeting notices and meeting minutes of all open meetings conducted by the Board of Registrars from November 14,2015 through January 10,2016. The Town provided this office with a March 16 letter explaining that responsive records were provided in January 2016. The Town enclosed the records that were provided to you. Open 1~1eeting Law In your March 22, 2016 letter to this office, you raise several issues regarding the Open Meeting Law and its procedures, including the standards to determine if a documept is "used" and whether minutes are being approved in a timely manner. You cite certain opinions rendered by the Office of the Attorney General's Division of Open Government from 2012 and 2015 to support your position concerning the Town's meeting procedures. Additionally, you state that certain executive session minutes have never been provided. OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/pre

Mr. William A. Moschella, Sr., Esq. SPR16/201 Page 2 April 7, 2016 Executive Session Minutes A review of the Town: s January 19 written response which was sent to this office in response to a prior administrative appeal, reveals that your January 11,2016 request for executive session minutes of a joint meeting of the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Registrars was not submitted to the proper records custodian. "Custodian" means the governmental officer or employee who in the normal course of his or her duties has access to or control ofpublic records. 950 C.M.R. 32.03 (Definitions). Whereas the Board of Selectmen (Board) is the proper custodian of the executive session minutes, you must make your request directly to the Board, not the Town Clerk or the Town Administrator. Please be advised that the interpretation of the Open Meeting Law falls within the authority of the Office of the Attorney General (AGO) and not this office. Therefore, I decline to provide a determination as to whether or not the purpose for which an executive session was held by the Board of Selectmen and Board of Registrars has been served. If upon receipt of a written response which claims to withhold the executive session minutes under an Open Meeting Law exception, you may contact the AGO for a review of the Board's response. See G. L. c. 30A, § 22. To assist you in requesting public records I advise you to review our publication, A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law. This document is available on the Internet, free of charge, athttp://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/prepdf/guide.pdf. Attorneys on my staff are available during regular business hours to answergeneral questions regarding the Public Records Law. Accordingly, this administrative appeal is closed. n u rv1sor of Records cc: Ms. Susan M. Hazen