Patrick Higgins v. Swansea, Town of - Advisory & Finance Committee (SPR 20160461)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords July 11, 2016 SPR16/461 Cynthia Martins Town of Swansea 81 Main Street Swansea, MA 02777 Dear Ms. Martins: I have received the petition of Mr. Patrick Higgins appealing the nomesponse of the Town of Swansea (Town) to his June 11,2016 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 Executive Session Minutes for the Swansea Board of Assessors for calendar years 2015 and 2016. Having received no response, Mr. Higgins 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 ten-day provision is a maximum, rather than a minimum, time frame for complying with a public records request. The response may be an offer to provide records, a fee estimate for provision of the records, or a denial. The Town is advised that all records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. Subsequent to the intervention by a member of my staff, this office was informed that the Town provided a response dated June 30, 2016. Accordingly, whereas this matter was opened based upon the Town's failure to provide a written response, I will now consider this administrative appeal closed. Mr. Higgins may appeal the substantive nature of the Town's response within ninety (90) days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). iiV~ Shawn A. Williams Supervisor of Records cc: Mr. Patrick Higgins OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/ pre