Todd Feathers v. Executive Office of Health and Human Services - Department of Mental Health (SPR 20171101)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records August 29,2017 SPR1711101 Misael Garcia Department of Mental Health 25 Staniford Street Boston, MA 02 11 4 Dear Mr. Garcia: I have received the petition of Todd Feathers of the Lowell Sun appealing the response of the Department of Mental Health (Department) to a request for public records. G. L, c. 66, 5 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Feathers requested "a copy of the Department of Mental Health's public complaint log (104 CMR 32.07)." Mr. Feathers agreed to narrow the scope of his request per telephone conversation with the Department "to a public log index of complaints from inpatient psychiatric facilities during January, 20 12 through July, 2017." The Department provided a fee estimate in a response dated August 14,2017. Fee estimates An agency 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, 3 10(d). The fees must reflect Id. the actual cost of complying with a particular request. 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, lO(d)(i). Agencies may not assess a fee for the first four hours of employee time to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the record or records requested. G. L. c. 66, 5 1O (d)(ii). Where appropriate, agencies 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 a. more than $25 per hour. 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, 5 lO(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, 5 lO(d)(ii); 950 CMR 32.06(4). One Ashburton Place, Room 17 19, Boston, Massachusetts 02 108 (6 17) 727-2832. Fax: (6 17) 727-59 14 sec.state.ma.us/pre * pre@sec.state.ma.us