Steven Ballard v. Acton-Boxborough Regional School Committee (SPR 20190880)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords May 16, 2019 SPR19/0880 Beth Petr Executive Assistant to the Superintendent and School Committee Acton-Boxborough Regional School District 15 Charter Road Acton, MA O1 720 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 financial management of the ABRSD's kindergarten program, including all documentation related to any financial accounts directly related to, and concerning, accounting for the finances of the kindergarten programs of the school district, including but not limited to any special or revolving funds, either created, distributed, maintained, sent or received, from the period January 1, 2017 to the present day, January 16, 2019." 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 SPRl 9/0880 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, § 10(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

Beth Petr SPR19/0880 Page2 May 16, 2019 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, § 10(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 J8t 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 could be 55,000 documents related to the financial management of the ABRSD's kindergarten program between January 1, 2008 and January 16, 2019 (11 years) 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." Further the District provides "[a]lthough you submitted 4 separate requests for these records (each within one minute of the next) the District is treating this as one request given that you are requesting the same information for multiple years." The District provides "[a Jt 1.5 minutes per item for this search, segregation and possible redaction, those 82,500 minutes translate to 1,375 hours oflabor. The first 2 hours of time is not chargeable so that reduces that number to 1,373 hours at $25 per hour= $34,325.The total of this good faith estimate of fees would be $34,325." The District also states "[i]fyou wanted to narrow your request to cover a smaller time frame, or search for a smaller number of documents, 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, § lO(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, § 1 O(b )(vii) ( a municipality shall suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of the request or offer to assist

Beth Petr SPR19/0880 Page 3 May 16, 2019 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. Conclusion Accordingly, the District is ordered to provide Attorney Ballard with 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, ~~ cc: Steven Ballard, Esq. Supervisor of Records