Karin Sutter v. Natick, Town of - Town Administrator (SPR 20191355)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records July17,2019 SPR19/1355 Melissa Malone Town Administrator Town of Natick 13 East Central Street Natick, MA 01760 Dear Ms. Malone: I have received the petition of Karin Sutter appealing the response of the Town of Natick (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Ms. Sutter sent an email on July 8, 2019 appealing the Town's June 7, 2019 fee estimate to Ms. Sutter' s February 21, 2019 public records request. Ms. Sutter believes she does not have to pay the fee because the Town was "past the 10 business day legal requirement." 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 black and white copies for both single and double-sided copies of a public record. G. L. c. 66, § 10( 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 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, § lO(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). One Ashbmion Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre• pre@sec.state.ma.us

Melissa Malone SPR19/1355 Page 2 July 17, 2019 Appeal A records access officer (RAO) may not charge a fee unless the RAO provides a written response is provided in 10 business days following the receipt of the request in compliance with G. L. c. 66, § lO(b); G. L. c. 66, § lO(e). The School may not be permitted to charge fees associated with this February 21st request if the School did not provide a response to this request in compliance with this provision of the law. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(e); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(2)( C ). It is unclear whether the Town complied with G. L. c. 66, § lO(e) and 950 C.M.R 32.06(2)(c). Therefore, I find the Town must demonstrate whether it responded to the February 21st request within ten business days following receipt of the request in compliance with G. L. c. 66, § lO(e) and 950 C.M.R 32.06(2)(c). Order Accordingly, the Town is ordered to review the request made by Ms. Sutter and provide a written response made in accordance with the Public Records Law, its Access Regulations and this order within ten 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, ~ I T ~ Supervisor of Records cc: Karin Sutter