Ronald Alexander v. Natick, Town of - Public Schools (SPR 20181100)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records July 25, 201 8 SPR1811100 Timothy Luff Assistant Superintendent Office of Student Services Natick Public Schools 13 East Central Street Natick, MA 01760 Dear Mr. Luff: I have received your petition on behalf of Naticlc Public Schools (School) for permission to charge for time spent segregating or redacting public records in responding to a request made by Ronald Alexander. G. L. c. 66, fj lO(d)(iv). As required by law, the School provided a copy of this petition to the requestor. G. L. c. 66, 5 10(d)(iv)(2). On July 3,2018 Mr. Alexander requested "[all1 communications, by and between any officer, employee, or other related persons of the Town of Natick, Natick Public Schools, Natick Board of Selectman, Town Counsel, Natick School Committee, et a1 and members of the public regarding the Open Meeting Law, Open Meeting Law Complaints, and Public Speak Policy from January 1,2018 to the present." Petitions for ability to assess fees 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 JcJ. reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Municipalities may not assess a fee for the first 2 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, fj lO(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, JcJ. 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 1719 , Boston, Massachusetts 02108 = (61 7) 727-2832- Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre pre@sec.state.ma.us

Timothy Luff Page 2 July 25,2018 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 petitionunder G. L. c. 66, 5 lO(d)(iv). G. L. c. 66, 5 lO(d)(iii); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). In the School's July 18,2018 petition you assert "I am requesting that the Supervisor of Records allow us to charge you for 118 hours of time to complete this process at a rate of $30 per hour [given] the highly confidential student and/or staff information that may be encountered." You also note that "Natick Public Schools/Town of Natick has counted more than 12,577 records that may be responsive to this request. To segregate and redact confidential information, and based upon my completion of your previous request for all January and March School Committee emails (which took me 3 days personally), I estimate a minimum of 120 hours to segregate and redact highly confidential information that may exist therein." With respect to the need to segregate and/or redact responsive records, the School explains "[tlhis type of correspondence often contains personal and confidential information regarding students, members of the public, and/or personnel. In order to complete this search and to identify what, if any, records fall within privacy exemptions, this search can only be completed by a high level town employee." As it pertains to the hourly rate of $30 sought by the School, you assert it is "based upon the current rate of my Administrative Assistant who may assist me in the segregation and redaction of these documents after my review of each document. My individual rate, which I am not requesting at this time, is $67 per hour. In the interest of keeping the cost down for this review, I chose to use my Administrative Asst. rate, even though I will be primarily performing the search, segregation, and redaction of necessary documents." In light of the School's explanation regarding the need to review the records for exempt material, including "personal and confidential information regarding students, members of the public, and/or personnel," I find the School has met its burden to explain how the request could not prudently be completed without redaction or segregation under applicable law. See G. L. c. 66, 5 lO(d)(iv). I also find that the School has met its burden to explain how, given the nature of the responsive records, the request could not prudently be completed without redaction, segregation or by assessing a fee in excess of $25.00 per hour. See id. The School has also demonstrated the fee is not designed to limit, deter or prevent access to requested public records. Id. - Therefore, the School may assess a fee for the time spent to segregate and redact the requested records at a rate of $30 per hour. However, it is unclear why the School requires 120 hours to produce the records. See G. L. c. 66, 5 lO(d)(iv) (requiring the amount of the fee must be reasonable). Conclusion Accordingly, the School is allowed to charge for the time to segregate and redact the

Timothy Luff SPRl811100 Page 3 July 25,2018 requested records at a rate of $30 per hour; however, it must confirm how it calculated the amount of time needed to produce the records. This office encourages Mr. Alexander and the School to communicate to facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, fj l O(b)(vii) (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 agency to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). Please note the requestor has the right to seek judicial review of this decision by commencing a civil action in the appropriate superior court. G. L. c. 66, fj 1O (d)(iv)(4), 1O A(c). Sincerely, V Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Ronald Alexander