Evan Anderson v. Quincy, City of - Police Department (SPR 20160929)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor of Records October 31, 2016 SPR16/929 Captain John R. Dougan City of Quincy - Police Department One Sea Street Quincy, MA 02169 Dear Captain Dougan: I have received the petition of Evan Anderson appealing the response of the City of Quincy-Police Department (Department) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 10(b); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Mr. Anderson requested a copy of all metadata from all emails sent and received by email account ofjmacisaac@guincyma.gov from January 1, 2014 to the date of the request. The Department provided Mr. Anderson with a written estimate on October 4 at a total cost of $7,906.1 0. Mr. Anderson petitioned this office. It is my understanding a member of my staff contacted you and provided a copy of the file associated with this appeal. Fees and fee estimate The Department's estimate states that it estimates the search time and segregation time to be approximately thirty (30) hours at an hourly rate of $46.83 per hour, plus the cost of paper copies of approximately 32,506 pages at twenty cents ($.20) per page. The total cost that the Department assessed is $7,906.1 0. I find that the Department has failed to meet its statutory and regulatory obligation of supporting these costs. The Public Records Law provides that copies of public records shall be furnished upon payment of a reasonable fee. G. L. c. 66, § 10(a). The Supervisor of Public Records is authorized by law to promulgate regulations to implement Chapter 66 of the General Laws, including the fee provisions. See G. L. c. 66, § 1. Absent specific statutory authority to the contrary, the fees to be charged for complying with public records requests are established by regulations promulgated by the Supervisor. 950 C.M.R. 32.06. The Department has assessed twenty cents ($.20) per page for copies. This fee is no longer in effect. Under the Regulations, a custodian of records may assess a maximum fee of One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre • pre@sec.state.ma.us

Captain John R. Dougan SPR16/948 Page 2 October 31,2016 five cents ($.05) per page for a black and white single or double-sided photocopy of a public record. See 950 C.M.R. 32.06(1)(a). In addition to the copying fee, the Regulations provide that in cases 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(1 )(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, § 10(a). The Department failed to show why the requester will be charged a fee for "segregation" when no exemption claims have been cited. The Department has stated that it will take thirty (30) hours at $46.83 to search and segregate the records. The Department has not established the reason for this number of hours to conduct a search for responsive records. Order I find the Department has failed to properly respond to a request for public records. Accordingly, the Department is hereby ordered to provide Mr. Anderson with a revised written, good faith estimate for the request, provided 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 offi at pre@sec.state.ma.us. cc: Evan Anderson