Robert W. Sibilio v. Framingham, Town of - Human Resources Department (SPR 20180507)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supewzsor of Records April 24,20 18 SPRl81507 Nichol M. Figueiredo Public Information & Records Access OfficerIWebmaster City of Framingham 150 Concord Street Framingham, MA 0 1702 Dear Ms. Figueiredo: 1h ave received your petition on behalf of the City of Frarningham (City) seeking an extension of time to furnish copies of requested records. G. L. c. 66, 5 10(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, 5 10(c), (d)(iv). On April 3,2018, Robert Sibilio requested "[alny emails from Robert Downing from his email account maintained by the City of Framingham.. .from any of the following people listed below" pertaining to four individuals between January 1,201 6 and April 1,2018. Petitions for an extension of time Under the Public Records Law, upon a showing of good cause, the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may grant a single extension to an agency not to exceed 20 business days and a single extension to a municipality not to 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 (vi) the public interest served by expeditious disclosure. 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

Nichol Figueiredo Page 2 April 24,20 18 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 a. obligation to provide copies of the records sought. 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 its April 17,2018 , petition the City is requesting "an extension of time of 10 business days to comply with the following public records request submitted by Robert Sibilio." The City explains "an additional outlook plug-in is currently being installed so that individuals can search the email archiver related to public records requests; providing them with the ability to search the email archiver for all email records related to public records requests." Further, the City explains "[tlhe individuals outlined in Mr. Sibilio's request would be required to search the archiver and provide all related emails to the Framingham Police Department Records Access Officer, Lt. Patricia Grigas for redaction and distribution to the requestor." I find that in light of the broad scope of the request, the City has established good cause to permit an extension of time of 10 business days. G. L. c. 66 5 1O (c)(i)-(iv). Conclusion For the reasons discussed above, the City is granted an extension of 10 business days to produce responsive records. The records must be provided consistent with the Public Records Law and its Access Regulations. The requestor may appeal the substantive nature of the City's response within ninety days, See 950 C.M.R. 32,08(1). Additionally, the requestor may seek judicial review of this decision by commencing a civil action in the superior court under G. L. c. 66, § 10A(c). Sincerely, V Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Robert Sibilio