Russell Seelig v. Springfield, City of - Office of the City Clerk (SPR 20190008)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords January 16, 2019 SPR19/008 Anthony I. Wilson, Esq. City Clerk City of Springfield Office of the City Clerk 36 Court Street Springfield, MA O1 103 Dear Attorney Wilson: I have received a petition from Russell Seelig appealing the nonresponse of the City of Springfield's City Clerk (City) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1 ). Mr. Seelig sent a request to the City on November 11, 2018 requesting records concerning "38D recipients." Having received no response, he filed an appealed to this office appeal on January 2, 2019. The 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, § 1O A( 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, § 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, § 1O (b )(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (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. If there are any fees associated with a response a written, good faith estimate must be provided. G. L. c. 66, § 1 O(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 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre• pre@sec.state.ma.us

Anthony I. Wilson, Esq. SPR19/008 Page 2 January16, 2019 Order Despite being notified of the opening of this appeal, no response has been provided. Accordingly, the City is ordered to provide Mr. Seelig with a response to the request, provided 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, ~ I T ~ Supervisor of Records cc: Russell Seelig