Dhruba Sen v. Framingham, Town of - Human Resources Department (SPR 20180325)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records March 22,20 18 SPR181325 Susan Embree, Records Access Officer City of Framingham- HR Department 150 Concord S.t. Framingham, MA 0 17 02 Dear Ms. Embree: I have received the petition of Dhruba Sen appealing the response of the City of Framingham (City) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, 5 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Sen indicated his dissatisfaction with the cost estimate of fees assessed for the provision of records. Fee estimates A municipality may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, 5 1O (d). The fees must Id. reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. A maximum fee of five cents ($.05) per page may be assessed for black and white copies for both single and double-sided copies of a public record. G. L. c. 66, 5 10(d)(i). Municipalities may not assess a fee for the first two hours of employee time to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the record or records requested unless the municipality has 20,000 people or less. G. L. c. 66, 5 lO(d)(iii). Where appropriate, municipalities may include as part of the fee an hourly rate equal to or less than the hourly rate attributed to the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to search for, compile, segregate, Id. redact or reproduce a record requested, but the fee shall not be more than $25 per hour. However, municipalities may charge more than $25 per hour if such rate is approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, 5 1O (d)(iv). A fee shall not be assessed for time spent segregating or redacting records unless such segregation or redaction is required by law or approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, 5 lO(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, 5 lO(d)(iii); 950 CMR 32.06(4). 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

Ms. Susan Embree Page 2 March 22,2018 Current Appeal Mr. Sen sent an email to our office on March 12,2018 with concerns about being charged for records regarding resumes and correspondence related to important city positions. The City provided a response to Mr. Sen from the City's Human Resources Department. The City provides Mr. Sen with a six hour total estimate to fulfill his request at an hourly rate of $25 an hour. The total estimated response cost would be $150. It is unclear the reason for the search requiring six hours. The City does not indicate the employee who is segregating and photocopying the records or clearly explain the estimate as required by the Public Records Law. The City must provide a more detailed fee estimate in accordance with the Public Records Law and its Regulations. See G. L. c. 66, 5 IO(d)(i). Order Accordingly, the City is hereby ordered to provide Mr. Sen with a revised fee estimate in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within ten business days. A copy of any such response must be provided to this office. t' is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@,sec.state.ma.us. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray U Supervisor of Records cc: Mr. Dhruba Sen