Patrick Higgins v. Dartmouth, Town of - Town Administrator (SPR 20170513)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords April 18, 2017 SPR17/513 David G. Cressman Town Administrator Town of Dartmouth 400 Slocum Road Dartmouth, MA 02747 Dear Mr. Cressman: I have received the petition of Patrick Higgins appealing the nomesponse of the Town of Dartmouth (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1O A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, in an April 9, 2017 email Mr. Higgins requested a date and time to inspect executive session minutes for all public bodies within the Town of Dartmouth. It is important for Mr. Higgins to note that under the updated Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within ten (10) business days ofreceipt of this request. G. L. c. 66, § lO(a), (b). The response may contain, among other things, an offer to provide records, a fee estimate for provision of the records, or a denial. G. L. c. 66, § lO(b). All records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. Subsequent to the opening of this appeal, you notified this office that a response was mailed to Mr. Higgins on April 14, 2017. Therefore, whereas this matter was opened based upon the Town's failure to provide a written response I will now consider this administrative appeal closed. Mr. Higgins may appeal the substantive nature of the Town's response within ninety (90) days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, ~~ 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