Steve Meister v. Arlington, Town of - Assessor (SPR 20160699)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords September 16, 2016 SPR16/699 Mr. Paul Tierney Director of Assessments Town of Arlington 730 Massachusetts A venue Arlington, MA 024 7 6 Dear Mr. Tierney: I have received the petition of Steve Meister appealing the response ofthe Town of Arlington- Assessor (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1O (b ); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Mr. Meister requested "a copy ofthe Fiscal Year 2016 assessment database (in [the Town's] existing Microsoft SQL Server format)." Mr. Meister's request also included "the corresponding folders with property photos and sketches." In a response dated August 27, 2016, the Town suggested responsive data may not be available in the requested format. Mr. Meister appealed this response. A records custodian must respond to a request that records be provided in native form if such records are available in that form. Based upon your conversations with an attorney my staff, it is my understanding the Town intends to conduct a review of its records to determine whether any records exist in a native format that is responsive to Mr. Meister's request. Accordingly, I will consider this appeal closed with the proviso that the Town complete its review and provide Mr. Meister a written response to his request, prepared in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations. 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. cc: Mr. Steve Meister Mr. David Good Mr. Eric Wilde OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma.us/pre