Patrick Higgins v. Swansea, Town of - Town Administrator (SPR 20170022)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records January 12, 2017 SPR17/022 Arthur D. Frank, Jr., Esq. Law Offices of Arthur D. Frank, Jr. 209 Bedford Street, Suite 402 Fall River, MA 02720 Dear Attorney Frank: I have received the petition of Patrick Higgins appealing the response of the Town of Swansea (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 10(b); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Mr. Higgins requested "a date and time to inspect all Swansea-related posts on Facebook page for "The Real Swansea group," by either Selectman Derek Heim or Christopher Carreiro." The Town provided a January 4, 2017 response, and Mr. Higgins appealed. Your January 2017 letter states, "[I] have spoken with both these individuals. Their postings are not done on websites hosted by or controlled by the Town of Swansea. The Town's records custodian does not have access to the postings nor does she maintain any records in either print or electronic format relating to them." On January 11, you confirmed these statements and further explained to a member of my legal staff that the Face book page was not created by the Town, nor used as an official venue to conduct Town business. Therefore, I find that while such postings may be in the public domain, the information regarding private social media postings are not public records. Governmental entities are only required to produce public records as defined in the law. Accordingly, I find that the Town has met its statutory and regulatory obligation under the Public Records Law. This administrative appeal is closed. Sincerely, j'\fln, !) 1:ttlt-'Ut-<Y "LWiA2!J Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Patrick Higgins 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