Collin Dias v. Fall River, City of - Office of the Corporation Counsel (SPR 20180958)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords July 12, 2018 SPR18/958 Joseph I. Macy, Esq. Corporation Counsel City of Fall River One Government Center Fall River, MA 02722 Dear Judge Macy: I have received the petition of Collin Dias appealing the response of 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). Specifically, on June 15, 2018 Mr. Dias requested "[a]ll non electronic records held specifically and currently in Mayor Jasiel Correia H's Office." The City responded on June 26, 2018 and Mr. Dias appealed. Appeal Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within ten business days of receipt of the request. G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)-(b). The response may contain, among other things, an offer to provide records, a fee estimate for provision of the records, or a denial. G. L. c. 66, § lO(b). All records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. 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 ofrecords at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(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, § IO(b)(iii). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § 1O (b )(iv) (written response must "identify any records, categories of records or portions of records that the agency or municipality intends to withhold, and provide the specific reasons for such withholding, including the specific exemption or exemptions upon which the withholding is based ... "); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). 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

Joseph I Macy, Esq. SPR18/958 Page 2 July 12, 2018 In the City's June 26th response you suggest this request is duplicative of a May 26, 2018 request from Mr. Dias, which the City responded to on June 25, 2018. In the June 25th response you indicated "' all non electronic records currently held in the Mayors Office starting from January 15, 2016' is so broad and voluminous that this request cannot be met given the lack of parameters of your request. All records would include every single piece of paper in the Mayor's office which is beyond burdensome and an onerous request. This office recommends you narrow your parameters to a more specific timeframe and topic to allow for an efficient and affordable search to be completed." Mr. Dias and the City are encouraged to maintain a professional working relationship to ensure that public records requests are clear and concise, and that records are produced efficiently and affordably. It should be noted that the request must reasonably describe the record being sought by including, for example, applicable time periods or topics. G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)(i). Further, a municipality shall suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of the request or offer to assist the requestor to modify the scope of the request if doing so would enable the municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, § 1O (b )(vii). Conclusion Accordingly, upon receiving clarification from Mr. Dias about the scope of the records sought, the City is ordered to provide a response to him in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations 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. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Collin Dias