Arthur G. Grenier v. Lawrence, City of - Office of the City Clerk (SPR 20190154)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords February 7, 2019 SPR19/0154 William Maloney City of Lawrence - Office of the City Clerk 200 Common Street Lawrence, MA O1 840 Dear Mr. Maloney: I have received the petition of Arthur Grenier appealing the nonresponse of the City of Lawrence (City) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Grenier requested identified documents concerning an incident that occurred on December 26, 2018. Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within 10 business days of receipt 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. I find Mr. Grenier's appeal is unclear; specifically, although in his January 23, 2019 appeal he indicates "[t]his is an appeal for a non-response from the City of Lawrence," a review of the file demonstrates that the City provided a response on January 2, 2019. Therefore, the basis of his appeal is unclear. Mr. Grenier may resubmit his appeal to this office once he clarifies these matters. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)(i) (the request must reasonably describe the public record sought); 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1)(:f) (all petitions for appeal shall be in writing and shall specifically describe the nature of the requestor's objections to the response or failure to provide a timely response). Sincerely, ~y~ Supervisor of Records cc: Arthur G. Grenier 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