Stephen J. Morgan v. Ashland, Town of - Public Schools (SPR 20170460)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords April 18, 2017 SPR17/460 Katherine McNamara Feodoroff, Esq. Mead, Talerman & Costa, LLC Attorneys at Law 730 Main Street, Suite lF Millis, MA 02054 Dear Attorney Feodoroff: I have received the petition of Stephen Morgan appealing the response of the Town of Ashland (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Morgan requested a copy of the Town Manager's contract. To assist in requesting and responding to requests for public records please refer to our publication, A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law. This document is available on the Internet, free of charge, at http://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/prepdf/guide.pdf. Public Records Division attorneys are available during regular business hours to answer general questions regarding the Public Records Law. In addition, Public Records Division staff members will visit a records custodian in person to conduct training workshops on the Public Records Law upon request. Fee estimates A municipality may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § lO(d). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Id. A maximum fee of five cents ($.05) per page may be assessed for a black and white single or double-sided photocopy of a public record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d )(i). Municipalities may not assess a fee for the first 2 hours of employee time to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the record or records requested unless the municipality has 20,000 people or less. G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iii). Where appropriate, municipalities may include as part of the fee an hourly rate equal to or less than the hourly rate attributed to the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce a record requested, but the fee shall not be more than $25 per hour. Id. However, municipalities may charge more than $25 per hour if such rate is approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iv). 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

Katherine McNamara Feodoroff, Esq. SPRl 7/460 Page 2 April 18, 2017 A fee shall not be assessed for time spent segregating or redacting records unless such segregation or redaction is required by law or approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iii); 950 CMR 32.06(4). On April 141 you informed a Public Records Division attorney that the Town will \ provide Mr. Morgan with a copy of the Town Manager's contract, waiving the cost of any public records fees only for this particular request. The Town reserves its right to assess public records fees for future requests, and will seek the fees upfront prior to conducting any search, segregating, redacting and copying of records. Accordingly, whereas the Town has agreed to provide the responsive contract, I will consider this appeal closed with the proviso that the record is provided to Mr. Morgan in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within 10 business days. A copy of any such response that accompanies the record must be provided to this office. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. Sincerely, ~~. Rebecca S. Murray (- Supervisor of Records cc: Stephen Morgan Tara Ward