Daniel Bell v. Massachusetts Department of Transportation - Office of the General Counsel (SPR 20170762)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords June 9, 2017 SPR17/762 William J. Doyle, Esq. Office of the General Counsel Massachusetts Department of Transportation 10 Park Plaza Suite 3510 Boston, MA 02116 Dear Attorney Doyle: I have received the petition of Daniel Bell appealing the response of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation Office of the General Counsel (Office) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Bell is objecting to the Office's latest response in which he claims that the Office is denying the existence of a specifically identified "Airport Compliance Report." No records on file In a response dated May 31, 201 7, the Office informed Mr. Bell that no such record exists. In the Office's letter, Attorney Doyle states, "MassDOT has no further records responsive to your requests; airport compliance and/or inspection checklists are completed and uploaded directly to the FAA website at the link already provided." In accordance with the Public Records Law, custodians are expected to use their superior knowledge of the records in their custody to assist requesters in obtaining the desired information. See 950 C.M.R. 32.04(5). No duty to create records In the aforementioned response, the Office informed Mr. Bell that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation is not in possession of the records he seeks. Under the Public Records Law, the Department is not required to create a record in response to a public records request. See G. L. c. 66, § 6A(d ); 32 Op. A tty Gen. 157, 165 (May 18, 1977). The duty to comply with requests for records extends to those records that exist and are in the possession, custody, or control of the custodian of records at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § 10 ( a )(ii). In doing so, I find that the custodian has satisfied their burden to provide a substantive response. 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

William J. Doyle, Esq. SPR17/762 Page 2 June 9, 2017 In an email to Public Records Division staff dated June 7, 2017 the Office confirmed "that there are no further responsive records in the care, custody, or control of MassDOT relative to Mr. Bell's request." Further, the Office stated, "The custodian for the records in the Aeronautics Division has replied as follows, 'The airport 5010 inspection is direct to the FAA (as displayed with the required information in the public use GCR database) without the generation of a record obtained by MassDOT.' Therefore, we have nothing further to provide." Whereas the Office has confirmed it has no responsive records, I will consider this appeal closed. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Daniel Bell