Peter E. Strniste, Jr., Esq. v. Berkley, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20170621)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords May 12, 2017 SPR17/621 Adam J. Costa, Esq. Mead, Talerman, & Costa, LLC 3 0 Green Street Newburyport, MA O1 950 Dear Attorney Costa: I have received your petition on behalf of the Town of Berkley (Town) seeking an extension of time to furnish copies ofrecords responsive to a public records request. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c ). The Town also sought authorization to assess fees for the production of responsive records. G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iv). As required by law, the Town furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor. Id. Peter E. Strniste, Esq. requested a various records relating to the construction of the Town Hall. It should be noted that Attorney Strniste's request is also the subject of an appeal with this office (SPRl 7 /589). I will issue a separate determination regarding SPRl 7 /589. Current petition In your petition dated May 4, 2017 you indicate Attorney Strniste's April 7, 2017 request is "quite extensive" and involves a "$3.5 million, multi-year construction project." You explain "the Town anticipates the production of more than 4,000 pages of documents in response to the public records request." You also assert that "significant staff time will be required to search for, compile, segregate and reproduce the materials sought in the request." In subsequent correspondence dated May 11, 2017, on which Attorney Strniste was copied, you explain that "upon consultation with Attorney Strniste, it has been agreed that the documents sought by the above Public Records Request shall be made available by the Town for inspection at the Town Office Building, at a date and time mutually-agreeable to the parties." Further, I understand the parties intend to meet and "it was suggested by Attorney Strniste that inspection of the aforementioned documents would be postponed." You assert that "should the parties' reconciliation efforts fail or should Attorney Strniste wish to review the requested records in the interim, the Town is ready to produce them for inspection." 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

Adam J. Costa, Esq. SPRl 7/621 Page 2 May 12, 2017 Conclusion I find that in light of the Town's May 11th correspondence and the arrangement described therein, it is unnecessary to opine on the Town's petition for an extension of time and authorization to assess fees at this time. Sincerely, ~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Peter E. Striniste, Esq.