Corey Spaulding v. Natick, Town of (SPR 20191358)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records July 10, 2019 SPR19/1358 Diane Packer Town Clerk Town of Natick 13 East Central Street Natick, MA 01760 Dear Ms. Packer: I have received the petition of Corey Spaulding appealing the response of the Town of Natick (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 1O A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1 ). Specifically, Ms. Spaulding requested email communications concerning an identified individual. Unsatisfied with the Town's response in which they claim they have provided all records within their possession, Ms. Spaulding petitioned this office and this appeal was opened as a result. June 27th response A representative from the Town responded to Ms. Spaulding on June 27, 2019 providing her a supplemental copy of a response previously sent by a separate agent of the Town. The Town confirms that they "have no other responsive records." In accordance with the Public Records Law, 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 ofrecords at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)(ii). Under the Public Records Law, the Town is not required to create a record in response to a public records request. See G. L. c. 66, § 6A(d); 32 Op. Atty Gen. 157, 165 (May 18, 1977). Conclusion Subsequent to the intervention by a staff member of the Public Records Division, I learned that a representative from the Town provided a supplemental response to Ms. Spaulding on July 10, 2019 verifying that they "have no further responsive records to this request." They assert that Ms. Spaulding has "received the only responsive record." As such, I find that the Town has responded appropriately and I will now consider this administrative appeal closed. 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

Diane Packer SPR19/1358 Page 2 July 10, 2019 Sincerely, ~~ Supervisor of Records cc: Corey Spaulding