D W v. Greenfield, City of - City Clerk (SPR 20191333)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division

Rebecca S, Murray Supervisor of Records

July 9, 2019 SPR19/1333 Kathryn J. Scott Greenfield City Clerk City of Greenfield 14 Court Square Greenfield, MA 01301

Dear Ms. Scott:

[ have received your petition on behalf of the City of Greenfield (City) seeking an extension of time to furnish copies of the requested public record, or any portion thereof. G, L. c. 66, § 10(c); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). As required by law, the City provided a copy of the petition to the requestor. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). Specifically, D.W. requested records related to the veteran status of City employees. This request was the subject of a previous petition from the City. See SPR18/1255 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (June 27, 2019).

Petitions for an extension of time

Under the Public Records Law, upon a showing of good cause, the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may grant a single extension to an agency not to exceed 20 business days and a single extension to a municipality not to exceed 30 business days. In determining whether there has been a showing of good cause, the Supervisor shall consider, but shall not be limited to considering: :

(i) the need to search for, collect, segregate or examine records;

(ii) the scope of redaction required to prevent unlawful disclosure;

(iii) the capacity or the normal business hours of operation of the agency or municipality to produce the request without the extension;

(iv) efforts undertaken by the agency or municipality in fulfilling the current request and previous requests;

(v) whether the request, either individually or as part of a series of requests from the same requestor, is frivolous or intended to harass or intimidate the agency or municipality; and

(vi) the public interest served by expeditious disclosure.

G. L. c. 66, § 10(c).

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

Kathy Scott SPR19/1333 Page 2 July 9, 2019

The filing of a petition does not affect the requirement that a Records Access Officer (RAO) shall provide an initial response to a requester within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b).

Current petition

In the City’s petition dated July 2, 2019, you explain “[t]o fulfill the request as originally submitted, the City will need to hire a temporary employee to complete the tasks requested.” As such, the City requests an additional 72 days from the date the requestor provides payment to process and respond to D.W.’s request.

You note that the City contacted D.W. on June 11, 2019 and June 18, 2019 in an effort to clarify whether the requestor would like modify the request, discontinue it, or continue with the original request and provide payment. You also indicate that despite correspondence from D.W. from June 18" and June 29", it is unclear whether D.W. has appealed the City’s response or modified the request.

Conclusion

Whereas it is unclear which responsive records D.W. continues to seek, I decline to opine on this petition at this time. D.W. is encouraged to clarify which specific records remain at issue. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)G) (the request must reasonably describe the public record sought); see also G. L. c. 66, § 10(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 response or fee estimate by the City must be in compliance with the Public Records Law and its Access Regulations.

It should be noted that D.W. may appeal the substantive nature of a response from the City within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1).

Sincerely,

Rilrvca

Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: D.W.