Stephen J. Morgan v. Ashland, Town of - Office of the Town Clerk (SPR 20190017)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords January 16, 2019 SPR19/0017 Cindy Livingstone Assistant Town Clerk Town of Ashland 101 Main Street Ashland, MA O1 7 21 Dear Ms. Livingstone: I have received the petition of Stephen J. Morgan appealing the response of the Town of Ashland (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 1O A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, in a November 19, 2018 email, Mr. Morgan requested: "[p]lease post or provide via email the document packet for this meeting. Including at least the agreement for (5), any BAA grant applications submitted, SCADA contract extension, and Massworks grant agreement which are topics on this agenda." By email on November 26, 2018, the Town provided Mr. Morgan with the document packet from the Board of Selectmen' s November 21st meeting. In a January 2, 2019 email to Mr. Morgan, you stated, "[t]he Town does not have the Massworks grant agreement. It was not distributed material at the meeting. It was on the agenda for discussion only." Mr. Morgan questions how the Town cannot have a copy of the Massworks grant agreement, whereas it is his understanding that the grant has already been issued to the Town. As a result, Mr. Morgan petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor), and this appeal was opened. No responsive record In a January 15, 2019 email to Mr. Morgan you stated, "[t]he grant was announced by the State and on the agenda for discussion only. The Town does not have the document to date and 1st\ will forward once it is received." On January you confirmed to a Public Records Division staff attorney that at the present time, negotiations for use of the money received by the Town from the state government are on-going, and that the Town does not have a document, an agreement that is responsive to the request. You informed this office that once the Town has the grant agreement, it will be released to the public, including Mr. Morgan. 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

Cindy Livingstone SPR19/0017 Page2 January 16, 2019 Under the Public Records Law, a records custodian has no obligation to create a record in response to a public records request. The duty to comply with requests for information extends only to those records that exist and are in the custody of the custodian of records at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 4, § 7(26); see also 32 Op. Att'y Gen. 157, 165 (May 18, 1977). Conclusion Accordingly, where the Town provided Mr. Morgan with records responsive to his request, and has informed Mr. Morgan that the Town has no record responsive to his request for a grant agreement, I will consider this administrative appeal closed. Sincerely, ~~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Stephen J. Morgan