James Cusick v. Fall River, City of - Office of the Corporation Counsel (SPR 20180540)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords May 7, 2018 SPRlS/540 Hon. Joseph I Macy, Esq. Office of the Corporation Counsel Fall River- City Hall One Government Center Room 627 Fall River, MA 02722 Dear Hon. Joseph Macy: I have received the petition from James Cusick appealing the denial of the access to public records by the Office of the Corporation Counsel for the City of Fall River (City) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On January 22, 2018, Mr. Cusick made a public records request to the City for the "finalized agreement between the City of Fall River and the Clover Leaf Mills LLC dealing with the easement that the City of Fall River granted Clover Leaf Mills LLC." Mr. Cusick then stated in an April 23, 2018 email that he has had conversations with the City and that the City states they cannot locate the agreement. Mr. Cusick appeals the City's response in his April 23rd email. Appeal The City sent an email on April 24, 2018 to both this office and Mr. Cusick stating that they still cannot locate the requested agreement. The City indicates the "office has and will continue to search for the document because it is as important to [them] as it is to the requestors." The duty to comply with requests for records extends to those records that exist and are in the possession, custody, or control of the custodian of records at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § IO(a)(ii), (b)(ii). Also, the duty to comply with requests for records extends to identifying the agency or municipality that may be in possession, custody, or control of the public record sought, if known. See G. L. c. 66, § 1O (b) (iii). The City has indicated to this office that it plans to "continue to search for the requested document and it will be provided as soon as it is located" to resolve the issue at hand. This office encourages the City and Mr. Cusick to communicate further to enable the City to provide any requested public 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

Hon. Joseph I Macy, Esq. SPR18/540 Page 2 May 7, 2018 Accordingly, the City is hereby ordered to review the requests made by Mr. Cusick and provide a response to Mr. Cusick, made in accordance with the Public Records Law, its Access Regulations and this order within ten business days. 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. If unresolved issues remain, Mr. Cusick may appeal the substantive nature of the City's response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, ~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Mr. James Cusick