Katherine Carlson v. Town of Topsfield - Town Clerk (SPR 20180324)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords March 23, 2018 SPRlS/324 Mary Willis Town Clerk Topsfield Town Hall 461 Boston Street, Unit E-6 Topsfield, MA 01983 Dear Ms. Willis: I have received the petition from Katherine Carlson appealing the nonresponse of the Town of Topsfield (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Ms. Carlson states that she has not received a response from her January 19, 2018 records request to the Town regarding "payroll, by name and department, for FY 17 total, including both base salary and overtime, and extra pay." Appeal Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within ten business days ofreceipt of the request. G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)-(b). The response may contain, among other things, an offer to provide records, a fee estimate for provision of the records, or a denial. G. L. c. 66, § lO(b). All records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. The duty to comply with requests for records extends to those records that exist and are in the possession, custody, or control of the custodian ofrecords at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)(ii), (b)(ii). Also, the duty to comply with requests for records extends to identifying the agency or municipality that may be in possession, custody, or control of the public record sought, if known. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(b)(iii). Fees An RAO may not charge a fee unless the RAO provides a written response is provided in 10 business days following the receipt of the request in compliance with G. L. c. 66, § lO(b). G. L. c. 66, § lO(e). The Town may not be permitted to charge fees associated with the January 19th request if the Town did not provide a response to this request in compliance with this provision of the law. 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

Mary Willis SPR18/324 Pg.2 March 23, 2018 See G. L. c. 66, § lO(e); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(2)(c). It is unclear whether the Town complied with G. L. c. 66, § lO(e) and 950 C.M.R 32.06(2)(c). Therefore, I find the Town must demonstrate whether it responded to the January 19th request within ten business days following receipt of the request in compliance with G. L. c. 66, § lO(e) and 950 C.M.R 32.06(2)(c). Order Accordingly, the Town is ordered to review the requests made by Ms. Carlson and provide a written response to Ms. Carlson, made in accordance with the Public Records Law, its Access Regulations and this order within ten business days. This administrative appeal is now closed. A copy of any such response must be provided to this office. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Ms. Katherine Carlson