Jason Ortiz v. Springfield, City of - Office of the City Clerk (SPR 20181735)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords December 4, 2018 SPRlS/1735 Anthony I. Wilson, Esq. City Clerk City of Springfield- Office of the City Clerk 3 6 Court Street Springfield, MA O1 103 Dear Attorney Wilson: I have received the petition from Jason Ortiz appealing the response from the City of Springfield's City Clerk's Office (City) regarding a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 1 OA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1 ). Originally, Mr. Ortiz sent a public records request to the City on November 15, 2018 seeking records pertaining to certain traffic camera video. The City provided a response on November 15, 2018 to Mr. Ortiz explaining "there are no records that are responsive to your request. There is no traffic camera video for that location, date and time." Mr. Ortiz appealed the City's response to our office via email on November 19, 2018. Public Records Law 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 ofreceipt 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, § lO(b) (iii). When withholding requested records, a records custodian is required to provide a response that identifies "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." G. L. c. 66, § 1O (b )(iv). Any non-exempt, segregable portion of a public record is subject to mandatory 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

Anthony I. Wilson, Esq. SPR18/1735 Page 2 December 4, 2018 disclosure. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(a); Reinstein v. Police Comm'r of Boston, 378 Mass. 281, 289- 90 (1979) (the statutory exemptions are narrowly construed and are not blanket in nature). Appeal In Mr. Ortiz's November 19th appeal to this office he states he "found that the camera at the intersection of Boland Way and Columbus A venue in Springfield, Massachusetts, is owned by Tower Square Hotel Springfield. The hotel's security informed me that I would need to request the video through the Springfield Police Department. The Police Department informed me that I needed to request the video as a public record." It is unclear if the City possesses the responsive records pertaining to the security video. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)(ii), (b)(ii), (iii). 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, § 10(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, § lO(b) (iii). If the records are within the City's possession and they intend to withhold the documents an exemption must be provided as stated above. See G. L. c. 66, § 1 O(b )(iv) ( custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). Conclusion Accordingly, the City is ordered to review the requests made by the requestor and provide any requested records in accordance with the Public Records Law, its Access Regulations and this order 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, ~ r r ~ Supervisor of Records cc: Jason Ortiz