Dianna Ploss v. Gloucester, City of - City Clerk (SPR 20190464)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords March 5, 2019 SPR19/0464 Joanne M. Senos, CMC City Clerk City of Gloucester Records Access Officer 9 Dale A venue Gloucester, MA 01930 Dear Ms. Senos: I have received your petition on behalf of City of Gloucester (City) seeking an extension of time to furnish copies of a requested record, or any portion thereof. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c ). As required by law, the City furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor. Id. On February 12, 2019, Dianna Ploss submitted 17 separate public records requests pertaining to named individuals. Petitions/or 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. 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

Joanne M. Senos SPR19/0464 Page 2 March 5, 2019 G. L. c. 66, § lO(c). 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 The City, in their February 26, 2019 petition, requests "an extension of time so that we can continue with these requests to provide Ms. Ploss with the information she is seeking." The City explains "[o]n February 15, 2019, we reached out to the requester via telephone, email and regular mail ... for more clarity regarding her requests. On February 25, 2019, I contacted the requester via telephone, and today she responded via email. .. regarding her requests." Based on a conversation with a member of the Public Records Division staff, it is my understanding that the City still requires clarification from Ms. Ploss regarding the scope of her requests and attempted to reach her via telephone on February 26th and 28th. Ms. Ploss has not responded to the City's attempts to clarify or narrow the scope of her request. Under the updated Public Records Law and Access Regulations, a municipality, when appropriate, can suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of the request or offer to assist the requester to modify the scope of the request if doing so would enable the municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably. G. L. c. 66, § 1 O(b )(vii); 950 C.M.R. 36.06(2)(g).

Joanne M. Senos SPR19/0464 Page 3 March 5, 2019 Conclusion Accordingly, I find that in light of the City's attempts to clarify the scope of the request, it is unnecessary to opine on the City's petition to relieve it of its obligation to fulfill the request at this time. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(b)(vii); see also G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)(i) (a request must reasonably describes the public record sought). Upon receiving clarification from Ms. Ploss about the scope of this request, the City must provide the records in a manner consistent with the Public Records Law and its Regulations. However, if the City requires additional time to produce the responsive records, it may submit a petition within twenty days of clarification seeking an extension of time in accordance with G. L. c. 66 § lO(c). Sincerely, fJww; Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Dianna Ploss