Richard Karp v. Canton, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20190552)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords March 29, 2019 SPR19/552 Tracy K. Kenney Town Clerk and Records Access Officer Memorial Hall 801 Washington Street Canton, MA 02021 Dear Ms. Kenney: I have received the petition of Richard Karp appealing the response of the Town of Canton (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, on October 31, 2018 Mr. Karp requested records related to an identified address and Reservoir Dam. The Town responded on November 14, 2018 by providing certain responsive records as well as a fee estimate for the provision of additional records. Mr. Karp previously submitted several appeals to this office regarding similar records. See SPR19/370-SPR19/381, SPR19/383 Determinations of the Supervisor of Records (February 22, 2019); SPR19/382, SPR19/384 Determinations of the Supervisor of Records (March 4, 2019); SPR19/400-SPR19/401, SPR19/403, SPR19/406 Determinations of the Supervisor of Records (February 27, 2019). In his petition for his current appeal, Mr. Karp indicates that the October 31st request is his original request and the Town's November 14th response is the original response. He notes that "[t]o try and narrow the request, I made numerous requests of the RAO for individual records within the original request. It was deemed by your office that the Town of Canton's response that these items were within another request and thusly answered has forced me to appeal the original response from the Town." Mr. Karp also objects to various parts of the November 14th response, including the fee estimate. However, it is unclear what the basis of his current appeal is; for example, it is uncertain whether the issues raised in this appeal have already been addressed in prior determinations from this office. Given that the basis of the appeal is unclear, I decline to issue a determination at this time. Mr. Karp may resubmit his appeal to this office once it has been clarified. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1)(f) (all petitions for appeal shall be in writing and shall specifically describe the nature of the requestor's objections to the response or failure to provide a timely response). Please note 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

Tracy K. Kenney SPR19/552 Page 2 March 29, 2019 that an appeal to this office must be filed within 90 days of a written response from the record custodian. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08 (l)(d). This office encourages the Town and Mr. Karp to communicate further to clarify which issues remain outstanding with respect to his request. See G. L. c 66, § IO(a)(i) (the request must reasonably describe the public record sought); G. L. c. 66, § IO(b)(vii) (a municipality shall suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of the request or offer to assist the requestor to modify the scope of the request if doing so would enable the municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Richard Karp