Steven Ballard v. Acton-Boxborough Regional School District (SPR 20190879)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records May 16, 2019 SPR19/0879 Beth Petr Executive Assistant to the Superintendent and School Committee Acton-Boxborough Regional School District 15 Charter Road Acton, MA O1 7 20 Dear Ms. Petr: I have received the petition of Attorney Steven Ballard appealing the fee estimate of the Acton-Boxborough Regional School District (District) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, on January 16, 2019, Attorney Ballard requested "[a]ny and all documents, including but not limited to emails, texts, spreadsheets, charts and other reports, specifically related to the ABRSD's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2020, either created, distributed, sent or received, from the period November 1, 2018 to the present day, by, between and among, any member or members of the school district staff' and named District staff members. On January 31, 2019, the District responded to Attorney Ballard's request with a fee estimate. Unsatisfied with this response, Attorney.Ballard petitioned this office and SPR19/0879 was opened as a result. Fee Estimates 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 a black and white single or double-sided photocopy of a public record. G. L. c. 66, § lO(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 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. 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

Beth Petr SPR19/0879 Page2 May 16, 2019 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). 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4 )(g) provides that "petitions seeking a waiver of statutory limits to fees assessed to segregate and/or redact public records must be made within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records." The District's January 3 pt Response The District's January 31st response indicated they were providing "a cost estimate for this request due to the extensive time involved." The District explains "there would be 12,850 documents related to the proposed FY20 budget between November 1, 2018 and January 16, 2019 and the 31 staff members that you specify, that would have to be reviewed to ensure that they were responsive to your request, as well as not protected from disclosure as confidential material under the attorney-client privilege, or due to student record or personnel information." The District provides "[a ]t 1.5 minutes per item for this search, segregation and possible redaction, those 19,275 minutes translate to 321 hours oflabor. The first 2 hours of time is not chargeable so that reduces that number to 319 hours at $25 per hour = $7,975." They also state "[i]fyou wanted to narrow your request to cover the same time frame, but search for a smaller number of documents to or from fewer staff members, that would lower the cost." I find the District must explain why the stated amount of time is needed to produce the records. Specifically, it must describe how much time will be needed to search for the records versus how much time will be needed to segregate and/or redact. The District must also explain whether the redactions are required by law. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d )(iii) ( 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)); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4)(g). In addition, it is unclear whether the hourly rate being charged is that of the lowest-paid employee capable of preforming the task. This office encourages Attorney Ballard and the District to continue to communicate to facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably. See 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). Any updated fee estimate by the District must be in compliance with this determination, the Public Records Law, and its Access Regulations.

Beth Petr SPR19/0879 Page 3 May 16, 2019 Conclusion Accordingly, the District is ordered to provide Attorney Ballard a revised response in a manner consistent with the Public Records Law, its Regulations, and this order 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 cc: Steven Ballard, Esq. Supervisor of Records