Collin Dias v. Fall River, City of - Office of the Corporation Counsel (SPR 20180335)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords March 22, 2018 SPRlS/335 Alison M. Bouchard City Clerk City of Fall River One Government Center Fall River, MA 02722 Dear Ms. Bouchard: I have received your petition on behalf of the City of Fall River (City) seeking relief from its obligation to produce responsive records. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). As required by law, the City furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c). Specifically, on March 7, 2018, Collin Dias submitted two separate requests for "all emails, records, and any other communications that mentions, talks about, or infers Mayor Correias pay raises to city employees." The second request includes additional communication by or about Mayor Correias "that discuss Mayor Correias Legal defense fund, investigations into SnoOwl, and Mayor Correia coming under any indictment or legal investigation." Petitions for an extension of time Under the Public Records Law, upon a showing of good cause, the Supervi~or of Records (Supervisor) may grant a single extension to an agerrcyrrottff·exceed·20business~days~and·a~·~·· · · ········· ·········· ·~ single extension to a municipality notto 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 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

Alison M. Bouchard SPR18/335 Page2 March 22, 2018 (vi) the public interest served by expeditious disclosure. G. L. c. 66 § lO(c). 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 requester within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b). Current petition In the petition, you indicate the City "respectfully requests that we be relieved of any obligation to respond to Mr. Dias clearly frivolous and harassing requests." I understand a member of the Public Records Division staff reached out to the City to clarify which records are ih being petitioned for relief. The City indicated they are petitioning for relief for the March requests. The City indicates "[t]he basis for the request is the continuous stream of repetitious requests from Mr. Dias which we believe constitutes a 'series of contemporaneous requests that are designed to ... harass."' Further, the City believes "that these requests are 'not intended for the broad dissemination of information about actual or alleged governmental activity." The City explains "[s]ince we have serious doubts that 'Southcoast media' constitutes a legitimate news outlet we question how his requests are 'relayed (sic) to news gathering purposes informing the public.'" The City further claims "Mr. Dias has consistently refused to agree to any payments on those occasions when we have offered to provide requested information for a fee." -------------Baseden-theinferm-atien-previded-in-the-Mareh-8t11_petitien;-I-frnd-thaHhe-eity-has-net--------- -------------- met its burden to demonstrate the requests, which relate to Mayor Correias' communications with city employees (including records related to funding an investigation), are frivolous and "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 ). Conclusion The City must provide a response to Mr. Dias in accordance with G. L. c. 66, § 1O (b ). This response may identify any records, categories of records or portions of records that the City intends to withhold, and provide the specific reasons for such withholding, including the specific exemption or exemptions upon which the withholding is based. See G. L. c. 66, § IO(b)(iv). Mr. Dias may appeal the substantive nature of the City's response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1).

Alison M. Bouchard SPR18/335 Page 3 March 22, 2018 Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Collin Dias