Maya Shaffer v. Lawrence, City of - Police Department (SPR 20190578)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records April 3, 2019 SPR19/578 Raquel D. Ruano, Esq. City Attorney Lawrence City Hall-Room 306 City Attorney's Office 200 Common Street Lawrence, MA O1 840 Dear Attorney Ruano: I have received the petition of Ms. Maya Shaffer appealing the response of the City of Lawrence's Police Department (Department) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Ms. Shaffer sent an email on February 25, 2019 to the Department requesting records. The Department provided Ms. Shaffer with a fee estimate of $80.00 for email records on March 19, 2019. Ms. Shaffer appealed the Department's fee estimate to this office on Mach 19, 2019 stating "the department took more than ten business days to respond and is attempting to assess fees. No fees can be assessed after the ten business days." Fee estimates If there are any fees associated with a response a written, good faith estimate must be provided. G. L. c. 66, § lO(b)(viii); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2)(b) (a records access officer (RAO) shall provide written, itemized, good faith estimate). Once fees are paid, an RAO must provide the responsive records. A municipality may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d ). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Id. A maximum fee of five cents ($.05) per page may be assessed for black and white copies for both single and double-sided copies of a public record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d )(i). Municipalities may not assess a fee for the first two hours of employee time to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the record or records requested unless the municipality has 20,000 people or less. G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iii). Where appropriate, municipalities may include as part of the fee an hourly rate equal to or less than the hourly rate attributed to the 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

Raquel D. Ruano, Esq. SPR19/578 Page2 April 3, 2018 lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce a record requested, but the fee shall not be more than $25 per hour. Id. However, municipalities may charge more than $25 per hour if such rate is approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iv). A fee shall not be assessed for time spent segregating or redacting records unless such segregation or redaction is required by law or approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, § lO(d)(iii); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). An RAO may not charge a fee unless the RAO provides a written response in 10 business days following the receipt of the request in compliance with G. L. c. 66, § lO(b). G. L. c. 66, § 10(e ). An RAO may 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 agency or municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, § 1 O(b )(vii). Appeal The Department may not be permitted to charge fees associated with the records request if the Department did not provide a response to this request in compliance with the provisions of the Public Records Law. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(e); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(2)(c). It is uncertain whether the Department complied with G. L. c. 66, § lO(e) and 950 C.M.R 32.06(2)(c) when responding to Ms. Shaffer's public records request. Therefore, I find the Department must demonstrate whether it responded to the records request within ten business days following receipt of the request in compliance with G. L. c. 66, § lO(e) and 950 C.M.R 32.06(2)(c). Order Accordingly, the Department is ordered to provide Ms. Shaffer with response in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within 10 business days. 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. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Maya Shaffer