Susan T. Munford v. Kingston, Town of - Town Administrator (SPR 20181885)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords December 14, 2018 SPRlS/1885 Thomas Calter III. Town Administrator Kingston Town Hall 26 Evergreen Street Kingston, MA 02364 Dear Mr. Calter: I have received the petition of Susan Munford appealing the response of the Town of Kingston (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Ms. Munford requested records related to salary increases, a list of salaries of Town employees, and an identified MOU. Ms. Munford also seeks a document titled "Appendix A." The Town provided a fee estimate of $355 which was provided to Ms. Munford on October 25, 2018. Ms. Munford appealed the response to this office on November 30, 2018 requesting that the "financial information that I have requested be released by the Town, at no charge, in a timely manner." Fee estimates If there are any fees associated with a response a written, good faith estimate must be provided. G. L. c. 66, § lO(b)(viii); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2)(b) (a records access officer (RAO) shall provide written, itemized, good faith estimate). Once fees are paid, an RAO must provide the responsive records. A municipality may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § lO(d). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Id. A maximum fee of five cents ($.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, § 10(d )(i). 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, § 10(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 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

Thomas Calter III. SPR18/1885 Page2 December 14, 2018 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 per hour. Id. However, municipalities may charge more than $25 per hour if such rate is approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iv). A fee shall not be assessed for time spent segregating or redacting records unless such segregation or redaction is required by law or approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iii); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). A records access officer (RAO) may not charge a fee unless the RAO provides a written response in 10 business days following the receipt of the request in compliance with G. L. c. 66, § 1O (b ). G. L. c. 66, § lO(e). An RAO may su$gest 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 or municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(b)(vii). Appeal The Town states that it will take 14 hours to pull the records and make copies. However, the Town has not met its burden to demonstrate why it requires 14 hours to review the records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d ) ( a records access officer may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record that does not exceed the actual cost of reproducing the record). Specifically, the Town does not describe how many of 14 hours are required for segregating and/or redacting versus how many hours are needed to search for the records. It is also unclear how an exemption to the Public Records Law could apply to these records. Further, as described above, if the Town seeks to assess a fee for the time spent segregating and/or redacting records, it is advised that a fee shall not be assessed for this time unless such segregation or redaction is required by law or approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iii). Conclusion Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide Ms. Munford with a revised response in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within 10 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: Susan Munford