Carl R. Hindes, Jr. v. East Longmeadow, Town of - Town Manager (SPR 20171577)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords November 14, 2017 SPR17/1577 Thomas P. Florence Town Clerk Town of East Longmeadow 60 Center Square East Longmeadow, MA 01028 Dear Mr. Florence: I have received your petition on behalf of the Town of East Longmeadow (Town) seeking an extension of time to furnish copies of a requested record, or any portion thereof. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). As required by law, the Town furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c). Specifically, Carl Hindes, Jr. requested "[a] copy of the Special Permit and the Dates of the Public Hearing that allowed them to expand the use of the property to include Commercial Landscaping Business as well as expanding the business to include a Nursery" as well as 13 categories ofrecords. The Town requested an extension of fifteen days to provide a response. 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 ofredaction 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; (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 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

Thomas P. Florence SPRl 7/1577 Page2 November 14, 2017 (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 C.M.R. 36.06(4 )(b ). Current petition In the petition, you indicate the Town is requesting additional time to comply with this request for records. The Town explains some of the records date back thirty years and certain personnel who have knowledge of the records have been away from the office. I find that in light of the scope of the request and the capacity of the Town to produce records, the Town has established good cause to permit an extension of time. I hereby grant the Department an extension of fifteen business days from the date of November 17, 2017 to provide a response to Mr. Hindes. Conclusion For the reasons discussed above, the Town is granted an extension of time to provide a response to Mr. Hindes. The response must be provided in a manner consistent with the Public Records Law, its Access Regulations and my previous determination. See 17/1114. Mr. Hindes may appeal the substantive nature of the Town's response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Mr. Hindes may seek judicial review of this decision by commencing a civil action in the superior court under G. L. c. 66 § 1O A( c) . Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Carl Hindes, Jr.