Alan Sliski v. Appellate Tax Board (SPR 20191514)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records August 8, 2019 SPR19/1514 Stephanie B. Miller Assistant Clerk Appellate Tax Board 100 Cambridge Street, Suite 200 Boston, MA 02114 Dear Ms. Miller: I have received the petition of Alan Sliski appealing the response of the Appellate Tax Board (ATB) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Sliski requested all records related to his civil litigation entitled, Alan Sliski v. Town of Lincoln Board of Assessors (Appeals Court Docket No. 2019-P-0745), and his prior case with ATB entitled, Alan Sliski v. Lincoln (Docket No. F334663-18-PRO). On July 25, 2019 via email, Mark J. Defrancisco, Esq., Chief Counsel at ATB provided Mr. Sliski with various records from the Comi docket via email in .pdf format. On July 27, 2019, Mr. Sliski petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor), and this appeal was opened. Mr. Sliski provided this office with his July 1o th correspondence regarding a "Motion to Correct the Record," and provide all documents listed in the Comi's docket report. Mr. Sliski also indicated that while he requested the records be provided in electronic format, ATB provided him with the records via email in .pdf format. It is Mr. Sliski's contention that. ATB creates and distributes documents using Microsoft Word. Mr. Sliski provided this office with a link to ATB published decisions, and found that ATB has decisions of fact and findings involving appeals of tax assessments between taxpayers and the Commissioner of the Depaiiment of Revenue, including Mr. Sliski's appeal, Docket No. C328816, available on the website in Word format. In an August 8th email, ATB Chief Counsel Mark J. Defrancisco informed this office that by email ATB provided Mr. Sliski with all documents in the possession of ATB that were responsive to his request, and that ATB has no further records responsive to the request. 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). 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

Stephanie B. Miller SPR19/1514 Page 2 August 8, 2019 In a telephone conversation on August 8°1, Attorney DeFrancisco informed a Public Records Division staff attorney that the records from Mr. Sliski's tax appeal file were in paper form, and were scanned into the computer in order to provide him with an electronic copy of the records. The request was as a result of Mr. Sliski's Appeals Court "Motion to Correct the Record" on the docket. Attorney DeFrancisco also informed this office that Mr. Sliski is entitled to review his tax file at A TB' s office, if he chooses. From Mr. Sliski's petition, it is unclear whether Mr. Sliski is referring to any particular document that he seeks in Word format, or whether he seeks to be provided with all the responsive records received on July 25th in Word format, instead of .pdf. While the ATB publishes its tax appeals on the web in Word format, it is unclear whether ATB also has the records provided in July in Word format. Under the Public Records Law, "[t]he records access officer shall, to the extent feasible, provide the public record in the requestor's preferred format or in the absence of a preferred format, in a searchable, machine readable format." See G. L. c. 66, § 6A(d). I encourage the paiiies to communicate and work together to resolve the issue of whether a particular requested record or all the records provided on July 25th can be provided in Mr. Sliski's preferred format of Microsoft Word. Conclusion Accordingly, the ATB is to provide Mr. Sliski with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within 10 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, ~ 1 ' ~ Supervisor of Records cc: Alan Sliski Mark J.DeFrancisco, Esq.