Bryan Dumont v. Shirley, Town of (SPR 20171669)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords December 18, 2017 SPR17/1669 William Oelfke Town Clerk Town of Shirley 7 Keady Way Shirley, MA 01464 Dear Mr. Oelfke: I have received the petition of Bryan Dumont appealing the response of the Town of Shirley (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Dumont requested several sets of executive session minutes. Unsatisfied with the Town's response, Mr. Dumont petitioned this office. Open Meeting Law The Town responded to Mr. Dumont on November 16, 2017 by asserting "[m]any of these executive session minutes have not been completed and/or approved by the Board of Selectmen or redacted." Based on this response, it is unclear if the Town is claiming that disclosure of the records may defeat the lawful purposes of the executive sessions, thereby invoking the Open Meeting Law. Please be advised that the interpretation of the Open Meeting Law falls within the authority of the Office of the Attorney General and not this office. Therefore, I decline to provide a determination as to the status of the executive session minutes. See G. L. c. 30A, § 23. It is recommended that you contact the Division of Open Government within the Office of the Attorney General should you seek a determination on this issue. Sincerely, ~~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Bryan Dumont 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