Tanya Lee v. Quincy, City of - Housing Authority (SPR 20160352)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor of& cords May 26,2017 SPR16/352 Ms. Carolyn Crossley City of Quincy Housing Authority 80 Clay Street Quincy, MA 02170-2799 Dear Ms. Crossley: I have received the petition of Tanya Lee appealing the response of City of Quincy Housing Authority (Authority) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1O (b ); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Ms. Lee requested a copy of her "file and Section 8 Voucher". In a response March 2, 2016 the Authority provided Ms. Lee with a fee estimate for the provision of the records responsive to her request. 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). In its March 2 letter the Authority indicated to Ms. Lee that in order for her to obtain a copy of her file she must remit payment of $434.58 for the cost of photocopying the responsive records. The Authority also indicated that Ms. Lee may make arrangements to review the responsive records and the Authority would provide copies of selected documents at a cost of twenty-five cents ($.25) per page. Fees/copies A custodian of records may assess a reasonable fee for complying with a request for public records. 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 ($1 0.00), custodian of records shall provide written good faith estimate). Absent specific statutory authority to the contrary, the fees to be charged for complying with requests for public records are established by the Public Records Access Regulations (Regulations). See 950 C.M.R. 32.06 (fees for public records). Under the Regulations, a custodian ofrecords may assess a maximum fee of five cents ($.05) per OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/ pre

Ms. Carolyn Crossley SPR16/352 Page 2 May 26,2016 page for a black and white single or double-sided photocopy of a public record. See 950 C.M.R. 32.06(l)(a). Fees/search and segregation In addition to the copying fee, the Regulations provide that in c,ases where search or segregation time is necessary a custodian of records may charge a pro-rated fee based on the hourly rate of the lowest paid employee who is capable of performing the task. 950 C.M.R. 32.06(l)(c). The Regulations define "search time" as the time needed to locate, pull from the file, copy and refile public records, and "segregation time" as the time used to redact data that is exempt from non-exempt material. 950 C.M.R. 32.03. The search and segregation fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. G. L. c. 66, § 1O (a). The fee estimate contained in the Authority's March 2 letter lacked the specificity required by the Public Records Law and its Regulations. Accordingly, the Authority is hereby ordered to provide Ms. Lee with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations. If the Authority maintains that any portion of the responsive records are exempt from disclosure it must provide to Ms. Lee 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 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 re ~est. Please contact my office directly at the telephone number provided in this determinatio for further information. I yjYours, .2illiams cc: Ms. Tanya Lee