Patrick Hannon v. Uxbridge, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20171759)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division

Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records

December 29, 2017 > SPR17/1759 Kathleen E. Connolly, Esq. Louison, Costello, Condon & Pfaff, LLP Town Counsel Town of Uxbridge 101 Summer Street Boston, MA 02110

Dear Attorney Connolly:

I have received your petition on behalf of the Town of Uxbridge (Town) seeking relief from 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 Town furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor. G. L. c. 66, §.10(c). On December 13, 2017, Patrick Hannon submitted six requests to the Town related to the Town Board of Health.

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;

(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, § 10(c).

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

Kathleen E. Connolly, Esq. SPR17/1759 | Page 2 December 29, 2017

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 requestor within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b).

Request for relief from obligation to respond to requests

In its petition dated December 19, 2017 the Town explains “we request that you relieve the Town from its obligation to provide additional responses to Nos. 1, 2, 5 and 6 of the December 13, 2017 records requests.” The Town references a December 7" email to the Town Board of Selectmen in which Mr. Hannon notes “[i]f the selectman [sic] do not investigate the BOH I will have no choice other than filing a voluminous public records request for Ms. Black’s and the other employee’s of the Uxbridge Board of Health records.” You explain that subsequent to this email, Mr. Hannon sent six public records requests to the Town on December 13, 2017.

The Town asserts “this is evidence that Mr. Hannon is misuSing the public records law as a means punishing the town for a perceived failure of the Board of Selectmen to act according to his wishes. Clearly, these requests are not intended for the broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government activity but rather designed to harass and intimidate the Town of Uxbridge officials and employees.” The Town also included in its petition several emails and social media posts by Mr. Hannon.

Based on the information provided in the December 19" petition, I decline to relieve the Town of its obligation to provide copies of the records sought. Although Mr. Hannon filed a series of requests on December 13", the requests contain timeframes and relate to the Board’s finances, inspections, and qualifications of its employees. Further, the December 7" email referenced by the Town pertains to a discussion about the qualifications of the Board of Health Director. Therefore, the Town has not established that “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, § 10(c).

Narrowing of requests

The Town also refers to a determination by this office regarding a previous petition by the Town. See SPR17/1582 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (November 15, 2017). You indicate that “[y]our office granted our request for an extension and required that Mr, Hannon reply to us with a more focused request, upon which the response time would commence. Mr. Hannon has not responded with more narrowly-focused requests. The Town has had no reply to its requests on those first records requests.”

Kathleen E. Connolly, Esq. , , SPR17/1759 Page 3 December 29, 2017

Under the Public Records Law and Access Regulations (Regulations), an agency or municipality must provide a written response to the requestor within ten business days. G.L. ¢. 66, § 10(b); 950 C.M.R. 36.06(2)(a)-(b). This written response may “suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of the request or offer to assist the requestor to modify the scope of the request if doing so would enable the agency or municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably.” G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vii). This office encourages the Town and Mr. Hannon to communicate further to enable the Town to provide the requested public records.

Conclusion

For the reasons discussed above, I decline to grant the Town’s petition for relief from its obligation to provide copies of the records sought. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). The Town must respond to Mr, Hannon in a manner consistent with the Public Records Law and its Regulations. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b).

Sincerely,

Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records

cc: Patrick Hannon