Susan C. Murphy v. Brookline, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20171753)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords January 8, 2018 SPR17/1753 Patrick Ward Town Clerk Town of Brookline 3 3 3 Washington Street Brookline, MA 02445 Dear Mr. Ward: I have received the petition of Attorney Susan Murphy appealing the response of the Town of Brookline (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § IOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Attorney Murphy requested "complete copies of all of the documents used in the open session of the Subcommittee on October 24, 2017, namely the executive session minutes for Executive Sessions of the Subcommittee held on September 5, 12, and 19, 2017." Open Meeting Law The Town responded to Attorney Murphy on November 10, 2017 by asserting the "publication of the executive session minutes of these meetings may defeat the lawful purposes of these executive sessions, which were held under Section 21(a)(3) and (a)(6) of the Open Meeting law; therefore, these minutes are withheld from disclosure pursuant to Exemption (a) of the Public Records Law and G.L. c.30A, s. 22(£)." 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. 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

Patrick Ward SPRl 7/1753 Page 2 January 8, 2018 Sincerely, ~ ~ .. Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Susan C. Murphy, Esq.