Barry S. Cosgrove v. Wareham Fire District (SPR 20171563)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords November 8, 2017 SPR17/1563 Marc R. Deshaies, Esq. Law Office of Marc R. Deshaies, P.C. Wareham Fire District 115 Orchard Street New Bedford, MA 02740 Dear Attorney Deshaies: I have received your petition on behalf of the Wareham Fire District (District) seeking an extension of time to furnish copies of a requested record, or any portion thereof, or in the alternative relief frorn its obligation to produce responsive records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c ); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4 ). As required by law, the District furnished a copy of this petition to the requester. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c), (d)(iv)(2). On October 23, 2017 Barry Cosgrove submitted.a request for various records from January 1, 2012 to October 23, 2017 pertaining to "reserve accounts", as well as several categories of records regarding "Tracer testing." .. 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; (iv) efforts undertaken by the agency or municipality in fulfilling the current request and previous requests; 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

Marc R. Deshaies, Esq. SPRl 7/1563 Page 2 Novmber 8, 2017 (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 ofa 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) . Request for relieff i"om obligation to produce responsive records In its petition dated November 1, 2017 in support of its request for relief from its obligation to respond to Mr. Cosgrove's request received on October 23, 2017, the District explains "this is Cosgrove's fourth request to the WFD for documents" and the "request was directed to Member of the Prudential Committee at personal email address as the WFD consultant." You explain "these are not the public records officers and the email was sent to them with the intent of harassing or intimidating the WFD." Further, the District claims "the current Cosgrove request is substantively a hybrid of his previous four public requests to which the WFD duly responded." Based on the information provided in the November 1st petition, I find the District has notmet its burden to establish that the request received on October 23rd, which asks for records regarding "reserve accounts" and "Tracer testing," 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" as required by G. L. c. 66 § lO(c) (emphasis added). Extension of time The District states that if relief is not granted, "in the alternative the Wareham Fire District seeks an extension of time of 15 business days to be [able] to respond to Cosgrove." The District explains "WFD has thus far produced 154 folders of information to Cosgrove from single page documents to reports of 100 pages." The District further explains "[t]he Treasurer of the Wareham Fire District is currently on medical leave and is unable to respond to review the current Cosgrove request."

Marc R. Deshaies, Esq. SPRl 7/1563 Page 3 Novrnber 8, 2017 I find that in light of the volume of requests and the capacity of the District to produce records, the District has established good cause to permit an extension of tirne of 10 business days for production of the responsive records. G. L. c. 66 § lO(c)(i)-(iv). Conclusion Accordingly, I find the District has not rnet its burden in being relieved of its obligation to respond to the public records requests, however, it has established good cause for an extension of tirne for the production of records responsive to the request. See G. L. c. 66, § 1O (b ). The District is advised it must provide the records in a manner consistent with this determination, the Public Records Law and its Access Regulations. The requestor may appeal the substantive nature of the District's response within ninety (90) days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Barry Cosgrove