Cynthia B. Gardner v. Cotuit, Village of - Fire District (SPR 20170756)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords June 5, 2017 SPR17/756 Charles Eager Village of Cotuit Fire District 64 High Street Cotuit, MA 02635 Dear Mr. Eager: I have received the petition of Cynthia Gardner appealing the nonresponse of Cotuit Fire District (District) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Ms. Gardner requested "a list of all firefighters who have gone out on disability under General Laws Chapter 41, section 111f, since July 1, 2008 till today" with the list including "their names, date they went out on disability, and the date they returned to duty." Ms. Gardner also requested "copies of employee benefit sheets which include vacation and sick time earned since July 1, 2008 and present for all firefighters." Having received no response, Ms. Gardner petitioned this office. Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within ten (10) business days of receipt of the request. G. L. c. 66, § IO(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, § IO(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 intervention by a Public Records Division staff attorney, I learned that a representative from the District intends to provide Ms. Gardner with a response to her request. I will now consider this administrative appeal closed with the proviso that the District provides said response within ten business days. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. Ms. Gardner may appeal the substantive nature of the District's response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). 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

Charles Eager SPR17/756 Page 2 June 5, 2017 Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Cynthia Gardner