Catherine Benjamin v. Charlton, Town of - Planning Board (SPR 20191213)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supen•isor of Records July 1, 2019 SPR19/1213 Patricia Rydlak Charlton Planning Board 37 Main St #12 Charlton, MA 01507 Dear Patricia Rydlak: I have received the petition of Catherine Benjamin appealing the response of the Charlton Planning Board (Board) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1 ). Specifically, Ms. Benjamin requested a copy of an "email including the court recording from the Charlton Planning Board Chairwoman, Patricia Rydlak." Current Appeal In a letter to this office dated June 16, 2019, Ms. Benjamin states, "[a ]fter review of all the submitted documents including this request for appeal, the Planning Board Chairperson's response, meeting proceedings, newspaper repo1ting and Facebook posts, I am requesting assistance to obtain the public record email including the cou11 recording from the Charlton Planning Board Chairwoman, Patricia Rydlak." Ms. Benjamin notes, "[o]n March 18, 2019 at a Board of Selectman's (BOS) meeting [Ms. Rydlak] claimed to have the recording of that call on her phone. On April 9, 2019 at another BOS Meeting she claimed that the recording was emailed to her. I have made a public records request for this.email and the attached cou11 conference call recording which she acknowledged is public information. Ms. Rydlak has not made this email available to me or anyone else who has asked for it. In fact she now claims she cannot find it." In accordance with the Public Records Law, custodians are expected to use their superior knowledge of the records in their custody to assist requestors in obtaining the desired information. See 950 C.M.R. 32.04(5). The duty to comply with requests for records extends to those records that exist and are in the possession, custody, or control of the custodian of records at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)(ii). At this time, it is unclear if the Board possesses any records responsive to Ms. Benjamin's request. One AshbmtonPlace, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre • pre@sec.state.ma.us

Patricia Rydlack SPR19/1213 Page2 July!, 2019 Co11cl11sio11 Accordingly, the Board is ordered to provide a supplemental response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations without delay. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. Sincerely, ~~ Supervisor of Records cc: Catherine Benjamin Randy Benson