Patrick Higgins v. Fall River, City of - Licensing Board (SPR 20191064)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords June 5, 2019 SPR19/1064 Kerri Ayash Fall River Licensing Board One Government Center, 5th Floor Fall River, MA 02722 Dear Ms. Ayash: I have received the petition of Patrick Higgins appealing the nomesponse of the Fall River Licensing Board (Board) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Higgins requested identified records relating to "rules or a policy addressing public comment.1' Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within 10 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, § 1O (b ). All records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. As of the date of this letter, it is my understanding that the Board has not provided Mr. Higgins a response to his request for records. Order Accordingly, the Board is ordered to provide Mr. Higgins with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations without delay. 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: Patrick Higgins 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