Ronald Alexander v. Wellesley, Town of - Public Schools (SPR 20170554)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records May 1, 2017 SPR17/554 Judith Belliveau Assistant Superintendent Wellesley Public Schools 40 Kingsbury Street Wellesley, MA 02481 Dear Ms. Belliveau: I have received your petition on behalf of the Town of Wellesley seeking relief from its obligation to produce responsive records. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). As required by law, the Town furnished a copy of this petition to the requester. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c). Ronald Alexander made six requests to the School Department on March 28, 2017, all of which relate to Town Meeting. The Town seeks relief from its obligation to respond to the six requests it received on March 2s1\ or in the alternative, an extension of time to furnish the records. Petitions/or an extension of time Under the Public Records Law, upon a showing of good cause, the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may grant a single extension to an agency not to exceed 20 business days and a single extension to a municipality not to exceed 30 business days. In determining whether there has been a showing of good cause, the Supervisor shall consider, but shall not be limited to considering: (i) the need to search for, collect, segregate or examine records; (ii) the scope of redaction required to prevent unlawful disclosure; (iii) the capacity or the normal business hours of operation of the agency or municipality to produce the request without the extension; (iv) efforts undertaken by the agency or municipality in fulfilling the current request and previous requests; (v) whether the request, either individually or as part of a series ofrequests from the same requestor, is frivolous or intended to harass or intimidate the agency or municipality; and (vi) the public interest served by expeditious disclosure. G. L. c. 66 § lO(c). 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

Judith Belliveau SPR17/554 Page 2 May 1, 2017 If the Supervisor determines that the request is part of a series of contemporaneous requests that are frivolous or designed to intimidate or harass, and the requests are not intended for the broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government activity, the Supervisor may grant a longer extension or relieve the agency or municipality of its obligation to provide copies of the records sought. Id. The filing of a petition does not affect the requirement that a Records Access Officer (RAO) shall provide an initial response to a requester within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 CMR 36.06(4)(b). Request for relieff rom obligation to produce responsive records In its petition dated April 24, 2017 in support of its request for relief from its obligation to respond to the six requests received on March 28t\ the Town explains "Mr. Alexander has submitted approximately one hundred and sixty two (162) requests to the School Department and School Committee, approximately seventy one (71) of which have been filed since August of 2016." You explain "Mr. Alexander has also submitted approximately forty (40) requests to the Board of Selectmen, or employees under its supervision since August of 2016, and approximately seven (7) requests to the Police Department since December of 2016." The Town indicates "Mr. Alexander's total number of public records requests now exceeds two hundred (200)." The Town claims that Mr. Alexander follows a similar pattern when making requests, specifically, "a Town employee or office has taken an action of which Mr. Alexander disapproved and Mr. Alexander has responded by filing numerous public records requests targeting that employee or office." March 28th requests The Town's April 24th petition pertains to six requests the School Department received on March 28th related to Town Meeting. You indicate "Mr. Alexander filed all six of these requests on the same day which Town Meeting was considering the School Department's budget" and "divided these requests into six separate emails, notwithstanding the fact that they all pertain to the same matter (i.e., Town Meeting and the Department's budget)." It is the Town's position that Mr. Alexander has a pattern of segmenting his requests and "[t]hese six requests continue Mr. Alexander's pattern of harassment towards Town employees." The Town further states that " [w ]ith the exception of a recent request related to Apple computer products and Town Counsel's legal bills, the Department has no knowledge of Mr. Alexander disseminat[ing] any of the information that he has collected from the Town to the public at large." The requests at issue pertain to budgetary information, including information related to laptops. You also indicate Mr. Alexander ran for School Committee in 2017.

Judith Belliveau SPRl 7/554 Page 3 May 1, 2017 Based on the information provided in the April 24th petition, I find the Town has not met its burden to establish that the requests received on March 28th, which relate to budgetary information, are "part of a series of contemporaneous requests that are frivolous or designed to intimidate or harass, and the requests are not intended for the broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government activity" as required by G. L. c. 66 § 10(c ). Extension oft ime The Town states that "[i]f the Town's Petition to be relieved of the obligation to respond is not allowed, the Town requests an extension of five (5) business days to respond to Mr. Alexander's requests." I find that in light of the volume ofrequests, the Town has established good cause to permit an extension of time of five business days. G. L. c. 66 § lO(c)(i)-(iv). Conclusion Accordingly, I decline to grant the Town's request for relief of its obligation to provide public records responsive to Mr. Alexander's requests received on March 28th. However, I grant the Town an extension of five business days beyond the time allowed in G.L. c. 66, § 1O (b )(vi). The Town is advised it must provide the records in a manner consistent with the Public Records Law and its Access Regulations. Please note the requester has the right to seek judicial review of this decision by commencing a civil action in the appropriate superior court. See G.L. c. 66, § lOA(c). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Ronald Alexander