Timothy Brennan v. Plymouth County Retirement Board (SPR 20171059)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords August 17, 2017 SPR17/1059 David Sullivan Plymouth County Retirement Board 10 Cordage Park Circle, Suite 234 Plymouth, MA 02360 Dear Mr. Sullivan: I have received the petition of Timothy Brennan appealing the response of the Plymouth County Retirement Board (Board) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 1 OA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Brennan requested "access to Annual Audit reports from 1997-2017." In a response dated July 13, 2017, the Board provided Mr. Brennan with a fee estimate for the provision of responsive records. Fee estimates Please be aware, county retirement boards are to be viewed as municipal units for purposes of the updated Public Records Law. See SPR Bulletin 01-1 7. 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, § IO(d). 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, § IO(d)(i). Municipalities may not assess a fee for the first (two) 2 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, § IO(d)(iv). 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

David Sullivan SPR17!1059 Page 2 August 17, 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, § lO(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iii); 950 CMR 32.06(4). To assist in requesting and responding to requests for public records please refer to our publication, A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law. This document is available at http:// www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/prepdf/guide.pdf. Public Records Division attorneys are available during regular business hours to answer general questions regarding the Public Records Law. In addition, Public Records Division staff will visit a records custodian in person to conduct training workshops on the Public Records Law upon request. Please contact the Public Records Division directly at the telephone number provided in this determination for further information. The Board's July lih fee estimate In its July 13th fee estimate the Board estimates a $600 fee to "make these documents available" to Mr. Brennan. The Board indicates if they are "over estimating the amount of time" it takes to respond to the records request, they will reimburse Mr. Brennan for the difference. Further, the Board attached a copy of the PCRA's 2015 audit in response to the request explaining it was able to be sent Mr. Brennan because it was "easily accessible." In the Board's response to Mr. Brennan, it is unclear why the $600 cost is necessary in order to complete the request. It is also unclear why the Board's fee estimate remains unchanged when responding to Mr. Brennan asking for a revised estimate based on him doing an in person review of the responsive documents. See G.L. c. 66, §6A(d) ("[t]he records access officer shall, to the extent feasible, provide the public record in the requestor's preferred format or, in the absence of a preferred format, in a searchable, machine readable format"); 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2)(£) (a records access officer shall not assess a copying fee for electronic copies). I understand a staff member of the Public Records Division contacted you and you indicated the Board would provide a supplemental response to Mr. Brennan. Conclusion Accordingly, I will consider this appeal closed with the proviso that the Board provide Mr. Brennan 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, ~urr~ Supervisor of Records cc: Timothy Brennan