Ann S. O'Connor v. Blue Hills Regional Technical School District (SPR 20190605)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records April 5, 2019 SPR19/605 James Quaglia Blue Hills Regional Vocational School District 800 Randolph Street Canton, MA 02021 Medford, MA 0215 5 Dear Mr. Quaglia: I have received the petition from Harry Brett appealing the response from the Blue Hills Regional Vocational School District (District) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § IOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Mr. Brett made a public records request on January 11, 2019 to the District requesting documents regarding an identified project. The records he received were provided by a construction company and not the District. The records he received were redacted with no exemptions cited. Mr. Brett appealed to this office requesting the unredacted records. Appeal 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 ofreceipt 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. 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). Also, the duty to comply with requests for records extends to identifying the agency or municipality that may be in possession, custody, or control of the public record sought, if known. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(b) (iii). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § 1 O(b )(iv) ( written response must "identify 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 ... "); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see 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

James P. Quaglia SPR19/605 Pg.2 April 5, 2019 also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). Possession, custody or control of responsive records In order to determine whether it has met its burden under G. L. c. 66, § 10( a)(ii), to provide records that are in the possession, custody, or control of the custodian ofrecords at the time of the request, I find the District must provide additional information regarding the relationship between it and the mentioned third party. In particular, the District must describe whether the responsive records are within the scope of an agency relationship. See Fifty-one Hispanic Residents of Chelsea, 421 Mass. at 608 ( describing the "extensive supervisory controls" that the school committee had over the university's obligations). Mr. Brett and the District are encouraged to communicate in order to facilitate producing records efficiently and affordably. Mr. Brett may wish to include applicable time periods or topics. G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)(i). The District must use its knowledge of the records to facilitate providing any responsive records. G. L. c. 66, § IO(a)(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 agency to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). If the responsive records contain exempt information, the District must cite to an exemption to the Public Records Law and provide an explanation as to why the exemption allows for the withholding. G. L. c. 66, § 1O (b )(iv). Conclusion Accordingly, the District is ordered to provide Mr. Brett with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations. 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: Harry Brett