John A. Hawkinson v. Cambridge, City of - Office of the City Solicitor (SPR 20170437)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords February 14, 2017 Nancy E. Glowa, Esq. City Solicitor City of Cambridge 795 Massachusetts A venue Cambridge, MA 02139 Dear Attorney Glowa: I have received your petition requesting to charge more for time spent segregating or redacting public records in responding to a request made by John Hawkinson on January 25, 2017. G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iv). Mr. Hawkinson requested "all letters memoranda, presentations, minutes of meetings, etc., regarding the new website from January 1, 2016 to present." As required by law, the City furnished a copy of this petition to the requester. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d )(iv)(2). The Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may approve a petition from a municipality to charge for time spent segregating or redacting or to charge in excess of $25 per hour, if the Supervisor determines that 1) the request is for a commercial purpose or 2) the fee represents an actual and good faith representation by the municipality to comply with the request. G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iv). In rendering such a decision, the Supervisor is required to consider the following: a) the public interest served by limiting the cost of public access to the records; b) the financial ability of the requestor to pay the additional or increased fees; and c) any other relevant extenuating circumstances. G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iv). Analysis The statute sets out a two-prong test for determining whether the Supervisor may approve a municipality's petition to allow the municipality to charge for time spent segregating or redacting records or to charge in excess of $25 an hour for the provision of public records. The first prong is whether the request for records was made for a commercial purpose. G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iv). It is my determination that this request was not made for a commercial purpose. The second prong of the test is whether the fee represents an actual and good faith representation by the municipality to comply with the request. The Supervisor must consider 1) 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

Nancy E. Glowa, Esq. Page 2 February 14, 2017 if the fee is necessary such that the request could not have been prudently completed without the redaction or segregation; 2) the amount of the fee is reasonable; and 3) the fee is not designed to limit, deter or prevent access to requested public records. G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iv). Current petition Based on the City's petition dated February 7, 2017, the City is claiming the records responsive to the request require redaction pursuant to Exemptions (d) and (n) of the Public Records Law. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26)(d), (n). Further, the City requests an allowance to charge for three (3) hours of segregation and redaction time assessed at the rate of $25.00 an hour. In correspondence dated February 8, 2017, Mr. Hawkinson indicates his willingness to narrow the scope of his request. In a conversation with an attorney on my staff you explained the City would communicate with Mr. Hawkinson to facilitate responding to a narrowed request. Conclusion Accordingly, I will not opine on the City's petition at this time. The City may again petition this office if, despite the attempt to narrow the request, it would like to assess certain fees associated with Mr. Hawkinson's request. G. L. c. 66, § IO(d)(iv). Mr. Hawkinson may appeal the substantive nature of the City's response within ninety (90) days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, ~u~ Supervisor of Records cc: John Hawkinson