Paul Sullivan v. Framingham, City of - Finance Division (SPR 20180327)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords March 20, 2018 SPRlS/327 Ms. Jennifer Pratt Assistant Chief Financial Officer Department of Finance 150 Concord Street, Room 127 Framingham, MA 01702 Dear Ms. Pratt: I have received the petition of Mr. Paul Sullivan appealing the response of the Town of Framingham Department of Finance (Department) to his request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 1O A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1 ). Specifically, Mr. Sullivan requested "a line item final accounting for the most recent complete fiscal year of all expenditures of the athletic department." In a response dated February 27, 2018, the Department provided Mr. Sullivan with a response, in the form of several PDFs sent via email. Claiming he had requested the records be provided to him "in Excel format," Mr. Sullivan petitioned this office and this appeal was opened as a result. The Public Records Law The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA(d); 950 C.M.R. 32.03(4). "Public records" is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any town of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § lO(b)(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. If there are any fees associated with a response a written, good faith estimate must be provided. G. L. c. 66, § lO(b)(viii); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2). Once fees are paid, a records custodian must provide the responsive records. 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. Jennifer Pratt SPR18/327 Page2 March 20, 2018 Formatting of responsive records Under the Public Records Law, a records access officer is obligated to provide responsive records in the requester's preferred format, whenever feasible. In cases where the requester does not provide a preferred format, records must be provided in a searchable, machine-readable form. See G. L. c. 66, § 6A(d ). I understand a Public Records Division staff member contacted you about this matter, and you indicated the Department would provide Mr. Sullivan with responsive records in his preferred format. Order Accordingly, the Department is hereby ordered to provide a response to Mr. Sullivan in accordance with the Public Records Law, its Access Regulations and this order within ten business days. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. Mr. Sullivan may appeal the substantive nature of the Department's response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, ~ a y ~ Supervisor of Records cc: Mr. Paul Sullivan