Michael DiPronio v. Natick, Town of (SPR 20181515)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records October 29,20 18 SPR18/1515 Diane Paclter Town of Natick 13 East Central Street Natick, MA 0 1760 Dear Ms. Paclter: I have received the petition of Michael DiPronio appealing the response of the Town of Natick (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, 5 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). ~~ecificaMllr~. D, iPronio sent a letter on September 23,2018 to the Town requesting "Meeting minutes from the Finance Committee for the calendar years of 20 15,2016 ,201 7 and through September 1. " Mr. DiPronio indicated that he received a fee estimate from the Town on October 23,2018 of $50. Mr. DiPronio sent an email to our office appealing the Town's response and fee estimate due to lack of details in the Town's initial estimate. Tlze Public Records Law The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, 5 lOA(d); 950 C.M.R. 32.03(4). "Public records" is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any town of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, fj 7(26). 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, 5 lO(b)(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatlev, 419 Mass. 507, 51 1 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. G. L. c. 66, 5 1O (b)(iv). If there are any fees associated with a response a written, good faith estimate must be provided. G. L. c. 66, 5 lO(b)(viii); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2). Once fees are paid, a records custodian must provide the responsive records. One Ashburton Place, Room 1719 , Boston, Massachusetts 02108 (61 7) 727-2832. Fax: (61 7) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre pre@sec.state.ma.us

Ms. Diane Packer Page 2 October 29,20 18 Fee estimates If there are any fees associated with a response a written, good faith estimate must be provided. G. L. c. 66, 5 lO(b)(viii); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2)(b) (a records access officer shall provide written, itemized, good faith estimate). Once fees are paid, a records access officer must provide the responsive records. 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 a. reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. A maximum fee of five cents ($.05) per page may be assessed for black and white copies for both single and double-sided copies of a public record. G. L. c. 66, 5 10(d)(i). Municipalities may not assess a fee for the first (two) 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, 5 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, redact or reproduce a record requested, but the fee shall not be more than $25 a. 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). 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 petition under G. L. c. 66, 5 lO(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, j € lO(d)(iii); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). Appeal The Town's fee estimate must provide clarity on how it arrived at the $50 fee. It is unclear how many hours of time the Town is assessing to locate and compile the records, the hourly rate that is being used and whether the Town has waived the first two hours of employee time. G. L. c. 66, 5 lO(d)(iii). This office encourages both parties to communicate further to enable the Town to provide a more refined search for Mr. DiPronio which could result in the reduction of fees. See G. L. c. 66, 5 1O (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 municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). Order Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide Mr. DiPronio with a revised fee estimate in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within ten

Ms. Diane Packer SPR18115 15 Page 3 October 29,201 8 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: Mr. Michael DiPronio