Margaret E. Sheehan, Esq. v. Plymouth County Commissioners (SPR 20181551)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords October 31, 2018 SPRlS/1551 Francis G. Basler, Jr. Administrator County of Plymouth 44 Obery Street Plymouth, MA 02360 Dear Mr. Basler: I have received the petition of Margaret Sheehan, Esq. appealing the response of the Plymouth County Commissioners (Commissioners) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Attorney Sheehan requested the following records: 1. For the years 2016, 2017 and 2018, all minutes of Executive Sessions held at regular meetings of the County Commissioners; 2. For the years 2016, 2017 and 2018, all minutes of Executive Sessions held by the Plymouth County Advisory Board. 3. For the years 2016, 2017 and 2018, all minutes of "statutory meetings" held by the Plymouth County Commissioners. Attorney Sheehan also requested the following records for the year 2010: 1. all meeting minutes of Open Session and Executive Session of the County Commissioners. 2. all agendas of County Commissioner meetings and Plymouth County Advisory Board meetings. The Commissioners provided responses on August 14, 2018, August 24, 2018, September 4, 2018, and September 10, 2018. Unsatisfied with the Commissioners' responses, Attorney Sheehan appealed. 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

Francis G. Basler, Jr. SPR18/1551 Page2 October 31, 2018 Appeal The Commissioners initially responded on August 14th and provided certain responsive records on August 24th. On September 1o th, the Commissioners provided "all 2016, 2017, and 2018 Executive Meeting Minutes that have been approved by the Commissioners and released as open records." In her appeal petition Attorney Sheehan indicates "Mr. Basler has not provided any executive session minutes for the 25 executive sessions in 2010, and also has not provided at least 19 executive session meeting minutes from the time period between 2016 and the date of the request. Mr. Basler has provided no rationale for withholding these records." Open Meeting Law Attorney Sheehan also indicates that she filed an Open Meeting Law Complaint on August 20, 2018. Attorney Shannon D. Resnick provided a response to Attorney Sheehan on behalf of the Commissioners on September 4, 2018 in response to the Open Meeting Law Complaint. In this response Attorney Resnick indicates that certain executive session minutes would be released, but that "[a]ny minutes withheld have been withheld for valid purposes, namely that they relate to attorney-client privileges and/or that the matters for which they relate are legal matters still pending, which the disclosure would frustrate the purpose of the executive session." I understand this matter is currently pending with the Division of Open Government (Division) within the Office of the Attorney General (AGO). Whereas the issues raised in Attorney Sheehan's appeal pertain to the disclosure of executive session minutes, and in light of the pending Open Meeting Law Complaint, I find it is necessary to first obtain an opinion from the Division regarding these issues. See G. L. c. 30A, § 23. I will consider this appeal closed pending the AGO's review. If appropriate, I will opine on this matter upon completion of the AGO's review. Sincerely, ~~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Margaret Sheehan, Esq. Shannon D. Resnick, Esq.