Noah R. Bombard v. Southbridge, Town of (SPR 20171176)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords September 11, 2017 SPR17/1176 Yvonne M. Tortis Executive Secretary/Office Manager Town of Southbridge 41 Elm Street Southbridge, MA 01550 Dear Ms. Tortis: I have received the petition of Noah R. Bombard, of MassLive, appealing the response of the Town of Southbridge (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 1 OA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Bombard requested "all emails, from Jan. 22, 2014, in the inbox or sent folders of then-Police Chief Daniel R. Charette, former Town Manager Christopher Clark and then-Police Lt. Shane D. Woodson that: A. Are from or to Amelia Peloquin and/OR, B. include the phrases 'Amelia Peloquin', 'Peloquin', 'Amelia', 'Beinema', or 'Torres' anywhere in the emails." The Town responded to Mr. Bombard's request with a fee estimate, including a $250 hourly rate for their vendor to search their archived emails. Mr. Bombard questioned the hourly rate as being over the statutory allowance, and this appeal was opened as a result. Fee estimates A municipality may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § 10 ( d). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. I d. A maximum fee of five cents ($.05) per page may be assessed for a black and white single or double-sided photocopy of a public record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(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 ofthe 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 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

Yvonne M. Tortis SPR17/1176 Page 2 September 11, 2017 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, § 10 (d )(iv). 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, § 10 ( d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, § 10 ( 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 on the Internet 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. August 25th Response In your August 25th email response to Mr. Bombard, you indicate the fee is based on an hourly vendor rate of $250. However, the Public Records Law allows a municipality to charge no more than $25 an hour to compile, segregate, redact or reproduce records, unless approval is received by the Supervisor. G. L. c. 66, § 10 ( d)(iii); G. L. c. 66, § 10 (d )(iv). I am not aware that the Town has petitioned for approval to charge more than $25 an hour for the provision of these records. Consequently, the Town may not charge an hourly rate in excess of $25 an hour. Order Accordingly, the Town is hereby ordered to provide Mr. Bombard with a revised fee estimate, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within ten (1 0) 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, ~a~ Supervisor of Records cc: Noah R. Bombard