Colman Herman v. Executive Office of Elder Affairs (SPR 20161115)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor of Records December 8, 2016 SPR16/1115 Siobhan Coyle, Esq. Deputy Legal Counsel Executive Office of Elder Affairs One Ashburton Place, 5th Floor Boston, MA 02108 Dear Attorney Coyle: I have received the petition of Colman Herman appealing the response of the Executive Office of Elder Affairs (EOEA) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § lO(b); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Mr. Herman requested "a copy of the documents Elder Affairs provides to assisted living residences that informs them of what they have to include in incident reports they submit to Elder Affairs." Having only received an acknowledgment of his request, Mr. Herman appealed. 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, § lO(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. 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 notified that EOEA intends to provide a response to the request. Whereas this matter was opened based upon EOEA's failure to provide a written response, I will now consider this administrative appeal closed with the proviso that EOEA provides a response to the request made in compliance with this order, the Public Records Law, and its Access Regulations. Mr. Herman may appeal the substantive nature of EOEA's response within ninety (90 s. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). cc: Colman Herman 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