Patricia Baker v. Middlefield, Town of - Town Administrator (SPR 20190545)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records March 27, 2019 SPR19/0545 Mr. Duane Pease Middlefield Town Administrator P.O. Box 238 Middlefield, MA 01243 Dear Mr. Pease: I have received the petition of Ms. Patricia Baker appealing the nonresponse of the Town of Middlefield (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 1O A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1 ). Specifically, Ms. Baker requested the "oat [sic] of office that the assessors take for the Town of Middlefield." Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within 10 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. As of the date of this letter, it is my understanding that the Town has not provided Ms. Baker a response to her request for records. Order Accordingly, Town is ordered to provide Ms. Baker with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law, and it's Regulations without delay. A copy of any such response must be provided to this office. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. ~ RebeccaS. M ~ Supervisor of Records cc: Patricia Baker 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