Carl Johnson v. Braintree, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20171166)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords August 29, 2017 SPR17/1166 James M. Casey Braintree Town Clerk Town of Braintree One JFK Memorial Drive Braintree, MA 02184 Dear Mr. Casey: I have received your petition on behalf of the Town of Braintree (Town) seeking an extension of time to furnish copies of the requested public record, or any portion thereof. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). Attorney Carl Johnson submitted a public records request to the Town for "copies of all written or oral communication reduced to writing ... received from the Chief, officers or firefighters of the Fire Department that concern any notice to or violations of any statute, CMR, Rule, Regulation, of Order of the Braintree Fire Department concerning smoke detector troubles, fire suppression system impairments, fire watch details, and any correspondence, notice, order, or email from any individual in the Office of the Mayor or Town Solicitor to Braintree Property Associates, L.P., Simon Property Group or Rick Tonzi, General Manager of South Shore Plaza concerning the same." 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; 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

James M. Casey SPRl 7/1166 Page 2 August 29, 2017 (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, § lO(c). If the Supervisor determines that the request is part of a series .of contemporaneous 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 of the 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 "requests that additional time, be granted to complete public request #2017-0861 due the absence of the Town Solicitor." You indicate that "[t]he Town requests until September 11, 2017 to complete the request #2017-0861 as the Town Solicitor will not return until September 5th." Attorney Johnson's request was submitted on August 9, 2017. Conclusion 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, § 1O (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, § lO(b)(vi). The requestor may voluntarily agree to a response date beyond these timeframes. See id. I understand a Public Records staff member contacted you and you confirmed the Town would be able to provide Attorney Johnson with responsive records by September 111 which is \ within the timeframe allowed by G. L. c. 66, § lO(b)(vi). Based on the Town's ability to provide records within the statutory timeframe, I find it is not necessary to opine on the Town's petition for an extension of time. G. L. c. 66, § lO(b)(vi).

Ja ines M. Casey SPR17/1166 Page 3 August 29, 201 7 The Town must provide a response to Attorney Johnson prepared in compliance with the Public Records Law and its Access Regulations. Attorney Johnson may appeal the substantive nature of the Town's response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Carl Johnson, Esq.