Eoin Higgins v. Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources (SPR 20160706)

1he Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords September 16, 2016 SPR16/706, SPR16/707, SPR/708 Ms. Carol A. Szocik Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources 251 Causeway Street, Suite 500 Boston, MA 02114 Dear Ms. Szocik: I have received three (3) petitions ofEoin Higgins appealing the nomesponse of the Department of Agricultural Resources (Department) to requests for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 10(b); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, on August 19, 2016, Mr. Higgins requested records associated with decisions on a specifically identified property (SPR16/706, SPR16/708), and communications between two specifically identified individuals for a specific time period (SPR16/707). On August 23, 2016, you provided a written acknowledgment to Mr. Higgins, stating it would take longer than ten days to comply with his requests. On September 7, 2016, a member of my staff spoke with a Department employee apprising them of the three (3) open appeals; however, no responses have been issued. Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within ten (1 0) 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. I find the Department has failed to respond to a request for public records. Accordingly, the Department is hereby ordered to provide Mr. Higgins with a written response to his requests, 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. Supervisor of Records cc: Mr. Eoin Higgins OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/pre