Don Kempner Warner Saklad v. Boston, City of - City Council (SPR 20170505)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records April 21, 2017 SPR17/505 Christine O'Donnell, Esq. Compliance Director and Staff Counsel Boston City Hall, Boston City Council, 5th Floor Boston, MA 02201 Dear Attorney O'Donnell: I have received the petition of Don Saklad appealing the response of the Boston City Council (Council) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Sak.fad requested a full English transcript of the stenographic record and the additional file of acronyms, abbreviations, shortcuts used to convert to English from the native encoded stenographic file. The Council responded to Mr. Saklad stating that the requested file does not exist. Further, the Council stated the additional file concerning acronyms, abbreviations and shortcuts does not exist in the custody of the Council. Under the Public Records Law, the Council is not required to create a record in response to a public records request. See G. L. c. 66, § 6A(d); 32 Op. Atty Gen. 157, 165 (May 18, 1977). The duty to comply with requests for records extends to those records that exist and are in the possession, custody, or control of the custodian ofrecords at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)(ii). Where the Council does not possess the requested records and has no duty to create them, I will now consider this administrative appeal closed. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Don Saklad 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