Elizabeth Garthe v. Marblehead, Town of (SPR 20190208)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords February 6, 2019 SPR19/0208 Sarah Bellino Mead, Talerman & Costa, LLC Town of Marblehead 3 0 Green Street Newburyport, Massachusetts, 01950 Dear Attorney Bellino: I have received your petition on behalf of the Town of Marblehead (Town) seeking an extension of time to furnish copies ofrequested records. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). As required by law, the Town furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor. G. L. c. 66, § IO(c), (d)(iv). On January 15, 2019, Elizabeth Garthe submitted a request for fourteen categories ofrecords related to "Glover Landing" dating "from January 1st 1964 to date." Petitions for an extension of time Under the Public Records Law, upon a showing of good cause, the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may grant a single extension to an agency not to exceed 20 business days and a single extension to a municipality not to exceed 30 business days. In determining whether there has been a showing of good cause, the Supervisor shall consider, but shall not be limited to considering: (i) the need to search for, collect, segregate or examine records; (ii) the scope of redaction required to prevent unlawful disclosure; (iii) the capacity or the normal business hours of operation of the agency or municipality to produce the request without the extension; (iv) efforts undertaken by the agency or municipality in fulfilling the current request and previous requests; (v) whether the request, either individually or as part of a series of requests from the same requestor, is frivolous or intended to harass or intimidate the agency or municipality; and (vi) the public interest served by expeditious disclosure. G. L. c. 66, § IO(c). 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

Sarah Bellino, Esq. SPR19/0208 Page 2 February 6, 2019 If the Supervisor determines that the request is part of a series of contemporaneous requests that are frivolous or designed to intimidate or harass, and the requests are not intended for the broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government activity, the Supervisor may grant a longer extension or relieve the agency or municipality of its obligation to provide copies of the records sought. Id. The filing of a petition does not affect the requirement that a Records Access Officer (RAO) shall provide an initial response to a requester within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06( 4)(b ). Current petition In its January 29, 2019, petition the Town is requesting "90 days in which to respond." The Town indicates it "intends to produce all of the relevant records it has in its custody but given the scope of the request, it is unable to do so within the statutorily provided timeframe." The Town estimated approximately 40 hours in "[l]ocating, reviewing, and segregating documents" in its January 29th response to Ms. Garthe. I find that in light of the broad scope of the request, the Town has established good cause to permit an extension of time of 30 business days. G. L. c. 66 § lO(c)(i)-(iv). Conclusion For the reasons discussed above, the Town is granted an extension of 30 business days to produce responsive records. The records must be provided consistent with the Public Records Law and its Access Regulations. To the extent possible, the Town must provide responsive records on a rolling basis. The requestor may appeal the substantive nature of the Town's response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1 ). This office encourages Elizabeth Garthe and the Town to continue to communicate to facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, §lO(b)(vii) (a municipality shall suggest 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 municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). Ifthere is an updated fee estimate, it must be in compliance with this determination, the Public Records Law, and its Access Regulations. Additionally, the requestor may seek judicial review of this decision by commencing a civil action in the superior court under G. L. c. 66, § 1O A( c) .

Sarah Bellino, Esq. SPR19/0208 Page 3 February 6, 2019 Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Elizabeth Garthe