George P. King, Jr. v. Nashoba Regional School District (SPR 20170787)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records : June 21, 2017 SPR17/787

Kerry Regan Jenness, Esq.

Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP. 300 Crown Colony Drive, Suite 410 Quincy, MA 02169

~ Dear Attorney Jenness:

I have received the petition of George P. King, Jr. appealing the response of the Nashoba Regional School District (School) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 10A; see also 950 C.MLR. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. King requested fourteen categories of records from the

School. Ina response dated June 6, 2017, the School provided Mr. King with a fee estimate for the provision of responsive records.

Fee estimates

A municipality may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). A municipality must provide a written response within ten business days, which can include an itemized, good faith estimate of any fees that may be charged to produce the records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(viii). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Id. A maximum fee of five cents ($.05) per page may be assessed for a black and white single or double-sided _ photocopy of a public record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(i).

Municipalities may not assess a fee for the first two hours of employee time to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the record or records requested unless the municipality has 20,000 people or less. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii). Where appropriate, municipalities may include as part of the fee an hourly rate equal to or less than the hourly rate attributed to the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce a record requested, but the fee shall not be more than $25 per hour. Id. However, municipalities may charge more than $25 per hour if such rate is approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)Gv).

One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 + (617) 727-2832+ Fax: (617) 727-5914

séc.state.ma.us/pre * pre@sec. state.ma.us

Kerry Regan Jenness, Esq. SPR17/787 Page 2 June 21, 2017

A fee shall not be assessed for time spent segregating or redacting records unless such segregation or redaction is required by law or approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(1v). See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii); 950 CMR 32.06(4),

The School’s June 6" fee estimate

In its June 6" fee estimate the School indicates it is assessing a fee of $25.00 an hour and “estimates your request requires 40 hours of search time at a total cost of $1,000 dollars.” You explain that “[t]his includes time necessary to segregate and redact.any student record

information that may be contained in the requested documents pursuant to G. L.c. 71s. 34D, 34E, as required by law.”

With respect to copying costs, you indicated Mr. King “will also be charged .05 per photocopy for any records not available electronically pursuant to 950 CMR 32.07(2)(e). You also explain that “[w]e have not identified any paper documents at this time, but reserve the right to update this estimate if the search returns responsive documents that are not available electronically.” . .

However, it is unclear why the School requires 40 hours to complete this request. For example, the School has not explained how many responsive records it possesses, nor does it provide information regarding the scope of the redactions that are required by law. It is also unclear if the School can suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of the request or offer to assist the requestor to modify the scope of the request in an attempt to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vii).

I understand a Public Records staff attorney contacted you and provided a copy of the file associated with this appeal.

Conclusion

Accordingly, the School is hereby ordered to provide Mr. King with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent With this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within ten business days. A copy of any such response must be provided to this office. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us.

Sincerely,

febecen Muwnary.

Rebecca S. Murray - Supervisor of Records

cc: George P. King, Jr.