Joseph McNichols v. Registry of Deeds - Norfolk County (SPR 20170827)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords June 30, 2017 SPR17/827 Marguerite L. Lee Public Records Access Officer Norfolk County Registry of Deeds 649 High Street Dedham, MA 02026 Dear Ms. Lee: I have received the petition of Joseph McNichols appealing the response of the Norfolk County Registry of Deeds (Registry) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1 OA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1 ). Specifically, Mr. McNichols requested a "a copy of any and all camera recordings for the entire length of the basement hallway of the Registry of Deeds 649 High Street Dedham, MA between 12:00 PM and 2:00PM on Thursday March 23~ 2017." Indicating he has yet to receive the responsive record, Mr. McNichols appealed. Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within ten business days of receipt ofthe request. G. L. c. 66, § 10(a), (b). The response may contain, among other things, an offer to provide records, a fee estimate for provision ofthe records, or a denial. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b). All records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. In a response dated March 29, 2017, the Registry provided a fee estimate and also indicated "[e]nclosed please find the record you have requested." However, in his appeal petition Mr. McNichols indicated he did not receive the responsive record. Subsequent to the intervention by a member of the Public Records Division staff, this office was notified that the Registry provided a copy of the responsive record to Mr. McNichols on June 30, 2017. Whereas this matter was opened based upon Mr. McNichols having not received the record, I will now consider this administrative appeal closed. Sincerely, ~~ Supervisor of Records cc: Joseph McNichols 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