Colman Herman v. Shrewsbury, Town of - Clerk's Office (SPR 20190466)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords March 12, 2019 SPR19/0466 Kevin J. Mizikar Town Manager Town of Shrewsbury 100 Maple A venue Shrewsbury, MA 01545 Dear Mr. Mizikar : I have received the petition from Colman Herman appealing the response of the Town of Shrewsbury's Town Manager (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Mr. Herman made a public records request on February 16, 2019 to the Town for "hard copies and electronic copies of any and all communications related to [a n identified individual's] home being left off the town of Shrewsbury's online database and then put back on the database." The Town provided Mr. Herman with a response on February 22, 2019. Mr. Herman subsequently requested an appeal to this office on February 26, 2019. Public Records Law 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. When withholding requested records, a records custodian is required to provide a response that identifies "any records, categories of records or portions of records that the agency or municipality intends to withhold, and provide the specific reasons for such withholding, including the specific exemption or exemptions upon which the withholding is based." G. L. c. 66, § 1 O(b )(iv). Any non-exempt, segregable portion of a public record is subject to mandatory disclosure. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(a); Reinstein v. Police Comm'r of Boston, 378 Mass. 281, 289- 90 (1979) (the statutory exemptions are narrowly construed and are not blanket in nature). 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

Kevin J. Mizikar SPR19/0466 Page 2 March 12, 2019 Appeal The Town provided a response to our office on March 1, 2019 regarding Mr. Herman's request. The Town indicated that it has "produced all documents and has not withheld anything under any exemption under the law related to Mr. Herman's request." Regarding Mr. Herman's concerns over the State Police communicating with the Town, the Town claims "there are no documents related to communications between the State Police and the Town on this matter." The duty to comply with requests for records extends to those records that exist and are in the possession, custody, or control of the custodian ofrecords at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)(ii), (b)(ii). Conclusion Based on the Town's March 1st response, I find the Town has met its burden in responding to this request. See G. L. c. 66, § 1O (b )(ii)-(iii). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Colman Herman