Joseph A. Padolsky v. Haverhill, City of - City Clerk (SPR 20160220)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords April 7, 2016 SPR16/220 Ms. Linda Koutoulas City of Haverhill - City Clerk 4 Summer Street City Hall, Room 118 Haverhill, MA 01830 Dear Ms. Koutoulas: I have received the petition of Joseph Padolsky appealing the nomesponse of City of Haverhill City Clerk (City) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1O (b ); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Mr. Padolsky requested a number of records pertaining to "the City's fiscal and successor contract funding issues." Having received no response, Mr. Padolsky 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. All records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. Subsequent to the opening of this appeal, this office was notified that a response was provided by Attorney William D. Cox, Jr., dated April 04, 2016. Whereas this matter was opened based upon the City's failure to provide a written response, I will now consider this administrative appeal closed. Mr. Padolsky may appeal the substantive nature of the City's response within ninety (90) days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). 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 upon request. Please contact my office directly at the telephone number provided in this determination for further information. OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/pre

Ms. Linda Koutoulas SPR16/220 Page 2 April 7, 2016 tfjms, ~ A. Williams Supervisor of Records cc: Mr. Joseph A. Padolsky, Esq.