Michael Hickson v. Chester, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20170898)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords July 10, 2017 SPR17/898 Susan Kucharski Town Clerk Town of Chester 15 Middlefield Rd. Chester, MA 01011 Dear Ms. Kucharski: I have received your petition on behalf of the Town of Chester (Town) seeking an extension of time to furnish copies of the requested public record, or any portion thereof. G. L. c. 66 § 10(c); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). Michael Hickson requested records related to Town payroll, expenses, and meeting minutes. Petitions for an extension of time Under the Public Records Law, upon a showing of good cause, the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may grant a single extension to an agency not to exceed 20 business days and a single extension to a municipality not to exceed 30 business days. In determining whether there has been a showing of good cause, the Supervisor shall consider, but shall not be limited to considering: (i) the need to search for, collect, segregate or examine records; (ii) the scope of redaction required to prevent unlawful disclosure; (iii) the capacity or the normal business hours of operation of the agency or municipality to produce the request without the extension; (iv) efforts undertaken by the agency or municipality in fulfilling the current request and previous requests; (v) whether the request, either individually or as part of a series of requests from the same requestor, is frivolous or intended to harass or intimidate the agency or municipality; and (vi) the public interest served by expeditious disclosure. G. L. c. 66 § 10(c). If the Supervisor determines that the request is part of a series of contemporaneous 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

Susan Kucharski SPR17/898 Page 2 July 10, 2017 requests that are frivolous or designed to intimidate or harass, and the requests are not intended for the broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government activity, the Supervisor may grant a longer extension or relieve the agency or municipality of its obligation to provide copies ofthe records sought. Id. The filing of a petition does not affect the requirement that a Records Access Officer (RAO) shall provide an initial response to a requester within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 CMR 36.06(4)(b). Current petition In your petition you explain the Town is "requesting an extension of the 10 business day timef rame to respond to a public records request. The request cannot be fulfilled within the 10 business day timeframe." You indicate you are coordinating with an attorney to respond to the request, and that certain heads of departments are unavailable or are on vacation. I understand a Public Records Division staff attorney contacted you about this matter. Conclusion Based on the Town's petition, I find it has not met its burden to show good cause to grant an extension of time to produce the requested records. See G. L. c. 66 § 10(c) (i)-(vi). The Town is advised that under the Public Records Law, a municipal records access officer must provide a written response to the requester within ten business days of receipt of the request. G. L. c. 66 § 10(b). In this response the records access officer may identify a reasonable timeframe in which it shall produce the public records sought; provided, that for a municipality the timeframe shall not exceed 25 business days following the initial receipt of the request. G. L. c. 66 § 1O (b )(vi). The requestor may voluntarily agree to a response date beyond these timeframes. See id. The Town must provide a response in a manner consistent with the Public Records Law and its Access Regulations. Mr. Hickson may appeal the substantive nature of the Town's response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Michael Hickson