Christopher P. Loreti v. Massachusetts School Building Authority (SPR 20180801)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords June 12, 2018 SPRlS/802 Brian P. Kelley, Esq. Associate General Counsel Massachusetts School Building Authority 40 Broad Street, Suite 500 Boston, MA 02109 Dear Attorney Kelley: I have received your petition on behalf of the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) seeking an extension of time to furnish copies ofrequested records. G. L. c. 66, § 10( c ). As required by law, the MSBA furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor. Id. In a request dated May 4, 2018, Christopher Loreti requested "a copy of the of the Town of Arlington's Preliminary Design Program for Arlington High School ('PDP')." 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. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c). 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

Brian P. Kelley, Esq. SPR18/802 Page 2 June 12, 2018 The filing of a petition does not affect the requirement that a Records Access Officer (RAO) shall provide an initial response to a requestor within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b). Current petition In your petition dated June 4, 2018, "the MSBA respectfully requests that the Supervisor of Records allows ample time for the MSBA to provide the records in response to the attached public records request." The MSBA explains "[i]fthe Supervisor of Records determines that the MSBA should release the PDP, the MSBA intends to appropriately redact school security related information from the PDP and charge Mr. Loreti for the time spent redacting." On May 30t\ Mr. Loreti appealed MSBA's initial response to withhold the records "because of the sensitive nature of the information contained in the PDP and its nexus to public safety." The MSBA indicates "[t]he PDP includes approximately 1200 pages of existing and potential design information" which contain "substantive information regarding deign and configuration of existing and proposed school safety and security conditions." Further, "[s]ecurity related information is embedded throughout the approximately 1200 page PDP and Mr. Loreti has refused to limit the parameters of his request and/or to extend the time within which the MSBA could both identify and redact any pertinent information." Conclusion Accordingly, I find that in light of the appeal filed by Mr. Loreti on May 30, 2018, it is unnecessary to make a determination on MSBA's petition at this time. MSBA is advised once the Supervisor has issued a determination for SPRl 8/782, it may submit a petition seeking an extension of time to furnish copies of requested records within ten business days after receipt of the determination. See 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4 )( d). In such a petition, the MSBA should indicate how many additional days are needed to furnish the requested records. Sincerely, ~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Christopher Loreti