Ronald Alexander v. Framingham, City of (SPR 20190751)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords April 12, 2019 SPR19/0751 Philip B. Benjamin, Esq. Benjamin & White, P.C. City of Framingham 600 Worcester Road, Suite 401 Framingham, MA 01702 Dear Attorney Benjamin: I have received your petition on behalf of the City of Framingham (City) seeking relief from its obligation to produce responsive records or an extension of time to furnish copies of a requested record, or any portion thereof. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c ). As required by law, the City furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c). On March 25, 2019, Ronald Alexander requested "to inspect all email messages since July 1, 2018 where one or more of the following strings occurs ... 1. 'student activity', 2. 'audit', 3. 'audits."' Petitions for an extension of time Under the Public Records Law, upon a showing of good cause, the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may grant a single extension to an agency not to exceed 20 business days and a . single extension to a municipality not to exceed 30 business days. In determining whether there has been a showing of good cause, the Supervisor shall consider, but shall not be limited to considering: (i) the need to search for, collect, segregate or examine records; (ii) the scope of redaction required to prevent unlawful disclosure; (iii) the capacity or the normal business hours of operation of the agency or municipality to produce the request without the extension; (iv) efforts undertaken by the agency or municipality in fulfilling the current request and previous requests; (v) whether the request, either individually or as part of a series of requests from the same requestor, is frivolous or intended to harass or intimidate the agency or municipality; and (vi) the public interest served by expeditious disclosure. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c). 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

Philip B. Benjamin, Esq. SPR19/0751 Page 2 April 12, 2019 If the Supervisor determines that the request is part of a series of contemporaneous requests that are frivolous or designed to intimidate or harass, and the requests are not intended for the broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government activity, the Supervisor may grant a longer extension or relieve the agency or municipality of its obligation to provide copies of the records sought. Id. The filing of a petition does not affect the requirement that a Records Access Officer (RAO) shall provide an initial response to a requestor within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b). Request for relieff rom obligation to produce responsive records The City states "Mr. Alexander's broad request of March 25, 2019 discussed above is part of a series ofrequest that are 'frivolous and designed to harass, and the requests are not intended for the broad dissemination to the public about actual or alleged government activity ... " The City notes "just four days before the present request Mr. Alexander submitted a request for records to Framingham which totaled in excess of 9,490 emails." The City requests that "based on such determination, that the Supervisor grant relief from having to respond to the request" or "further extend the time for the City's response to this request." Extension oft ime to produce responsive records The City requests that "[b] ased on the significant time needed to review the records the more than 300,00 emails, the City requests the Supervisor allow the City the maximum 30 business day extension." The City states "[o]n April 1, 2019, the School RAO informed Mr. Alexander that there were in excess of 300,000 emails responsive to his request and asked if he wished to narrow the scope of his request. He responded that he did not wish to do so." Modification of request Subsequent to the opening of this petition, Mr. Alexander submitted a modified request on April 9, 2019. This request seeks "to inspect all email Sent by Lincoln D Lynch IV, Executive Director of Finance and Operations for the Framingham Public schools to anyone where one of more of the following strings occurs ... 1. 'student activity', 2. 'audit', 3. 'audits'."

Philip B. Benjamin, Esq. SPR19/0751 Page 3 April 12, 2019 Conclusion Accordingly, I find that in light of Mr. Alexander's modified request it is unnecessary to opine on the City's April 5th petition at this time. However, if the City requires additional time to produce the responsive records, it may submit a petition within 20 days of modification seeking an extension of time in accordance with G. L. c. 66, § 10( c ). Sincerely, ~~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Ronald Alexander