Stanley Mazurczyk v. Chelmsford, Town of - Chief Assessor (SPR 20161175)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A Williams Supervisor of Records December 19, 20 16 SPR16/1175 Tricia Dzuris Town Clerk Town of Chelmsford 50 Billerica Road Chelmsford, MA 01824 Dear Ms. Dzuris: I have received the petition of Stanley Mazurczyk appealing the response of the Town of Chelmsford- Town Clerk (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1 O(b ); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Mr. Mazurczyk is appealing the Town's response to his request for an email from a specifically identified individual to the Town, originally sent and received on October 27, 2016, to be forwarded to him in its entirety. Unsatisfied with the response he received from the Town, Mr. Mazurczyk petitioned this office. No duty to create records Under the Public Records Law, the Town is not required to create a list of records or any record in response to a public records request. In addition, a public employee is not required to answer questions, or do research, or create documents in response to questions. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a); 32 Op. Atty Gen. 157, 165 (May 18, 1977). The duty to comply with requests for information extends only to those records that exist and are in the custody of the custodian of records at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 4, § 7(26). In an email dated December 12, 2016, in which this office was copied, Town explained it provided the responsive record and "[n]o other records exist." Whereas the Town has confirmed it has no further responsive records, I will consider this eal cla ed. cc: Stanley Mazurczyk 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