Ronald Alexander v. Framingham, City of (SPR 20190539)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords March 26, 2019 SPR19/539 Michele M. Conway Interim Records Access Officer City of Framingham- Mayor's Office 150 Concord Street Framingham, MA 01702 Dear Ms. Conway: I have received the petition of Mr. Ronald Alexander appealing the response of the City of Framingham Mayor's Office (City) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66; § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Alexander originally requested email information on February 19, 2019. The City provided a response to Mr. Alexander on March 4, 2019 and March 6, 2019. Mr. Alexander appealed the City's response to this office on March 12, 2019 concerning the redaction of recipient email addresses. The City provided a supplemental response to Mr. Alexander's appeal on March 20, 2019. Appeal In the City's March 20th supplemental response to Mr. Alexander it explains that "the reason why the recipients of the information for the October 1J 1h Executive Session were redacted from the School Committee's response, the School Committee was meeting in executive session pursuant to Purpose 3 to receive an update from counsel regarding a special education litigation matter." The City goes on to provide further information about a member of the School Committee recusing themselves due to "the requirements of the state Conflict of Interest Law, pursuant to G.L. c. 268A, ss. 19 and 23 ." The City asserts that "[b] ecause the member was precluded from participating in the School Committee's consideration of the matter without violating the Conflict of Interest Law, the information from counsel was sent to all members of the School Committee except for the member with the conflict." Open Meeting Law The issues raised in Mr. Alexander's original request and appeal pertain to the release of executive session materials and appear to invoke the Open Meeting Law. Specifcally it appears necessary to first determine whether the redacted information would be required to be provided 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

Michele M. Conway SPR19/0539 Page 2 March 26, 2019 under the Open Meeting Law. Please be advised that the interpretation of the Open Meeting Law falls within the authority of the Office of the Attorney General (AGO) and not this office. Therefore, I decline to provide a determination as to the status of these records. See G. L. c. 30A, § 23. It is recommended that Mr. Alexander contact the Division of Open Government within the AGO should he seek a determination on these issues. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Ronald Alexander Carrie Benedon, Esq.