Louis Pereira v. Berkley, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20191109)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords June 18, 2019 SPR19/1109 Alan G. Coutinho Town Administrator Town of Berkley 1 N Main St Berkley, MA 02779 Dear Mr. Coutinho: I have received the petition of Louis Pereira appealing the response of the Town of Edgartown (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 1O A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, on May 13, 2019, Mr. Pereira requested in "electronic format the last 10 years of our annual audits." The Town responded to Mr. Pereira with a response, including a fee estimate. Unsatisfied with the Town's fee estimate and response, Mr. Pereira appealed this office and SPR19/1109 was opened as a result. Fee - Municipalities 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, § 10(d )(i). Municipalities may not assess a fee for the first (two) 2 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. 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). 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

Alan G. Coutinho SPR19/1109 Page2 June 18, 2019 Further, 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 ofR ecords 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). Appeal Mr. Pereira is appealing the Town's fee of "approximately 10 dollars per report or 100.00 explaining they needed to create an electronic copy." Mr. Pereira contends that "[t]hese annual audit reports should be available online" and believes he should not pay the 100 dollars for "reports that benefit every resident in Berkley." In light of the appeal, I find the Town must provide Mr. Pereira with a supplemental response explaining the basis of the $100. 00 fee. Order Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide a revised fee estimate made in accordance with the Public Records Law, its Access Regulations and this order within ten business days. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. Mr. Pereira may appeal the substantive nature of the Town's response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Louis Pereira