John D. Rousseau v. Rutland, Town of - Police Department (SPR 20171281)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records September 27, 2017 SPR17/1281 Chief Donald Haapakoski Town of Rutland Police Department PO Box242 Rutland, MA 01543 Dear Chief Haapakoski: I have received the petition of John D. Rousseau appealing the nonresponse of the Town of Rutland Police Department (Department) to his request for public records. G. L c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Rousseau requested records pertaining to an identified matter. Having received no response, Mr. Rousseau petitioned this office.Although the Department did provide a partial response dated July 28, 2017 and then again on August 8, 2017, neither was substantial. Mr. Rousseau continues to object to the Department's lack of substantive response to his requests for public records. Previous appeals The requested records were the subject of prior appeals. See SPRl 7 /854 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (July 10, 2017); SPR 17/1036 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (August 9, 2017). I closed SPRl 7 /1036 by ordering the Department to provide a response to Mr. Rousseau. Current appeal Mr. Rousseau originally made a public records request to you on May 24, 201 7 for seven categories of records. In responses dated July 28th and August 3th you informed Mr. Rousseau that the Department is unable to process his request and needed an additional ten days to review the responsive records. In a letter to this office received on September 13, 2017, Mr. Rousseau indicates he has yet to receive a response to my August 9th order. It should be noted that 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. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c ). To the best of my knowledge, the Department has not submitted a petition under G. L. c. 66, § lO(c) for an extension of time to respond to Mr. Rousseau's request. 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

Chief Donald Haapakoski SPRl 7/1281 Page2 September 27, 2017 Order This office emailed you a copy of the file and also mailed a letter acknowledging the opening of this appeal. Accordingly, the Department is ordered to provide Mr. Rousseau with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations without delay. 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, ~~ Supervisor of Records cc: John D. Rousseau