Roxanne Houghton v. Attleboro, City of - Office of the Mayor (SPR 20190347)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records February 28, 2019 SPR19/347 The Honorable Paul Heroux Mayor of Attleboro Attleboro City Hall - Office of the Mayor 77 Park Street Attleboro, MA 02703 Dear Mayor Heroux: I have received the petition of Roxanne Houghton appealing the nonresponse of the City of Attleboro (City) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 1O A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Ms. Houghton requested copies ofletters submitted by City residents regarding the public use of a piece of property known as the Highland Country Club. Indicating that she had not received a response, Ms. Houghton appealed. Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within ten 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. Subsequent to the intervention by a member of the Public Records Division, the City notified this office that it responded to the same request on October 2, 2018 by citing to Exemptions (c) and (d) of the Public Records Law to withhold responsive records. See G. L. c. 4, § 7(26)(c), (d). Ms. Houghton may appeal the substantive nature of the City's October 211 d response within 90 days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, ~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Roxanne Houghton 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