Robert Davis v. Town of Spencer- Office of Development and Inspectional Services (SPR 20170566)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords May 2, 2017 SPR17/566 Lee Jarvis Director, Office of Development & Inspectional Services Town of Spencer 157 Main Street Spencer, MA 01562 Dear Mr. Jarvis: I have received your petition on behalf of the Town of Spencer (Town) seeking an extension of time to furnish copies of a requested record, or any portion thereof, as well as to charge more than $25.00 per hour. G. L. c. 66 § IO(c); G. L. c. 66, § IO(d)(iv). As required by law, the Town furnished a copy of this petition to the requester. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c), (d)(iv)(2). Robert Davis of BuildZoom requested "all building permits processed by your department to date" for "at least the last ten years." Petitions for 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 of requests 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. 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

Lee Jarvis SPR17/566 Page 2 May 2, 2017 G. L. c. 66 § lO(c) 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). Petitions regarding fees 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). Current petition In its April 26, 2017 petition the Town explains that, while they can provide "the past two years information within the time frame electronically," the remaining eight years' worth of records is maintained only in paper format in storage. You estimate fulfilling this request could take over 100 hours and that due to limited staffing "and the Clerks other required duties it could take a year to complete this request." Prior to submitting the petition to this office, the Town provided a response to the requester on April 26, 2017 in which it provided a fee estimate for certain responsive records, and suggested the requester modify his request in order to reduce costs. In a subsequent email to the requester dated April 26th, Monica Santerre-Gervais, an administrative clerk with the Town, indicates that a representative of the requester named Vidhan Agrawal "agreed to the past 2 years of building permits." Under the updated Public Records Law and Access Regulations, an agency or municipality must provide a written response to the requester within ten business days. G. L. c. 66, § 1 O(b ); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(2)(a )-(b ). This written response may "suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of the request or offer to assist the requestor to modify the scope of the

Lee Jarvis SPR17/566 Page 3 May 2, 2017 request if doing so would enable the agency or municipality to produce records sough more efficientll and affordably." G. L. c. 66, § IO(b)(vii). The Town provided this suggestion in its April 261 correspondence and it appears the requester agreed to this modification. Conclusion Accordingly, I find that in light of the Town's April 26th correspondence suggesting a modification of the request, as well as communications with this office, it is unnecessary to opine on the Town's petition for an extension of time and to charge more than $25 an hour at this time. See G. L. c. 66, § IO(b)(vii); see also G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)(i) (a request must reasonably describe the public records sought). Upon receiving clarification from the requester about the scope of the request, the Town must provide the records in a manner consistent with the Public Records Law and its Regulations. If, upon receiving this clarification, the Town wishes to refile its petition it may do so. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Robert Davis