Chris Gamble v. Waltham, City of - City Clerk (SPR 20180454)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records April 19,201 8 SPRl81454 Mr. Joseph Vizard Assistant City Clerk Waltham City Hall- City Clerk's Office 610 Main Street, 2nd F1. Waltham, MA 02452 Dear Mr. Vizard: I have received the petition of Chris Gamble appealing the response of the City of Waltham (City) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, 5 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). The City had provided Mr. Gamble with a fee estimate on March 20,2018 regarding his public records request. Specifically, Mr. Gamble has three requests in his appeal. First, Mr. Gamble is requesting a fee waiver based on the City not providing a timely response to his public records request. Second, Mr. Gamble requests the records be distributed on a rolling basis and not in one installment. Third, Mr. Gamble has been unable to open records provided in electronic format and wishes them to be resent to him. 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 10(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 10(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 lO(d)(iv). One Ashburton Place, Room 171 9, Boston, Massachusetts 02 108 * (6 17) 727-2832. Fax: (6 17) 727-59 14 sec.state.ma.us/pre pre@sec.state.ma.us

Mr. Joseph Vizard Page 2 April 19,201 8 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 C.M.R. 32.06(4). Appeal A records access officer (RAO) may not charge a fee unless the RAO provides a written response in 10 business days following the receipt of the request in compliance with G. L. c. 66, 5 10(b) . G. L. c. 66, 5 10(e). The City may not be permitted to charge fees associated with its March 20th fee estimate if the City did not provide a response to this request in compliance with this provision of the law. See G. L. c. 66, 5 10(e); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(2)(c). It is unclear whether the City complied with G. L. c. 66, 5 10(e) and 950 C.M.R 32.06(2)(c). Therefore, I find the City must demonstrate whether it responded to Mr. Gamble's request within 10 business days following receipt of the request in compliance with G. L. c. 66, 5 10(e) and 950 C.M.R 32.06(2)(c). An RAO shall coordinate a municipality's response to requests for access to public records and shall facilitate the resolution of such requests by the timely and thorough production of public records. Each RAO shall assist persons seeking public records to identify the records sought. G. L. c. 66, 5 6A (b)(l). If the City has responsive records that are readily available, the City should provide Mr. Gamble with those records while continuing the search for any remaining requested records. The RAO shall provide the public records to a requestor by electronic means unless the record is not available in electronic form or the requestor does not have the ability to receive or access the records in a usable electronic form. G. L. c. 66, 5 6A (d). It is my understanding that Mr. Gamble is having difficulty opening the electronically formatted records provided to him. The City should coordinate with Mr. Gamble to provide him with the requested records in an accessible manner. Order Accordingly, the City is ordered to review the requests and provide a written response to Mr. Gamble, 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 V Supervisor of Records cc: Mr. Chris Gamble