Deborah Brown v. Brookline, Town of- Housing Authority (SPR 20191526)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records August 5, 2019 SPR19/1526 Michele E. Randazzo, Esq. KP Law, PC. 101 Arch Street, 12th Floor Boston, MA 02110 Dear Attorney Randazzo: I have received your petition on behalf of the Brookline Housing Authority (Authority) seeking an extension of time to produce records. G. L. c. 66, § lO(c). As required by law, it is my understanding that the Authority furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor. Id. In a letter dated July 1, 2019, Attorney Deborah Brown requested various categories ofrecords concerning "general housing demographic and business data." Petition 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, § lO(c). One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre• pre@sec.state.ni.a.us

Michele E. Randazzo, Esq. SPR19/1526 Page 2 August 5, 2019 Current Petition In its petition, "[t]he Authority respectfully requests that the Supervisor of Public Records authorize an extension of time for the Authority to fully respond to Ms. Brown's request, pursuant to 950 CMR 32.06(4)." The Authority explains, "[a] review of the July 1st request reveals that the level of information sought is much more comprehensive and detailed than the summary provided herein, and this summary is meant solely to illustrate the wide ranging scope of topics for which records are sought. In other words, the request touches upon virtually all aspects of the Authority's operations. The Authority notes that there are only approximately 9 administrative staff persons, including the Authority's Executive Director, that are appropriate to assist in compiling responsive records based upon job title and duties." You further note that the Authority is working on a particular project and that "[t]he successful completion of this project, which is ongoing through 2020 requires a significant amount ofresources and the time of most of the Authority's administrative staff, either directly in connection with this project, or to ensure no interruption in the conduct of the Authority's general 'business' while the project is in its final stages of completion." The Authority explains "[b] ased on the temporal and substantive breadth of the requests, the time necessary to search for and compile responsive records, the Authority estimates that this undertaking will take approximately 90 hours to complete, and could potentially take much longer, particularly to the extent that responsive records need to be redacted to protect privacy interests of tenants. For instance, the request seeks a variety of tenant-specific information for which generic spreadsheets of data do not currently exist or are not regularly maintained for all time periods requested. As a result, the Authority would need to perform manual searches of practically all tenant records to isolate responsive records, determine what records are, in fact, subject to mandatory disclosure under the public records law, and then redact tenant-identifying information where that information is privacy protected. Such work will need to be completed in addition to the regular duties of each employee." In addition, the Authority indicates it initially responded to this request on July 16, 2019 in which it " ... inquired of the Requester as to whether she was amenable to an extension of time for the Authority to fully respond to her request, thus obviating the need for the Authority to file this petition. Furthermore, the Authority invited the Requester to narrow or clarify the scope of her request, so that the Authority could potentially produce responsive record(s) more efficiently." You note that Attorney Brown did not reply to this response. You explain that in light of the above, " ... the Authority anticipates that it will require more than the twenty-five business days allowed under the public records law to fully respond to all of these requests. Significantly, the Authority will not charge the Requester for the employee search and segregation time necessary to respond to this request, in acknowledgment of the fact that the topics covered in the request are generally of public interest." With respect to the amount of additional time needed, the Authority asserts "[f]or the foregoing reasons, the Authority respectfully requests that it be granted an additional thirty

Michele E. Randazzo, Esq. SPRl 9/1526 Page 3 August 5, 2019 business days until Wednesday, September 18, 2019 to fully respond. If this request is granted, the Authority will endeavor to produce the records in an expeditious manner, and it will produce records on a rolling basis so as not to result in inordinate delay." Conclusion I find that in light of the volume of responsive records, the scope of redaction required, the capacity of the Authority to produce the request without the extension, and the efforts undertaken by the Authority in fulfilling the request, the Authority has established good cause to permit an extension of time. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(c)(i)-(iv). I hereby grant the Authority an 111 extension until September 18 to furnish copies ofrecords responsive to Attorney Brown's request. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(c). The Authority is advised it must pi·ovide the records in a manner consistent with the Public Records Law and its Access Regulations. To the extent possible, the Authority must provide responsive records on a rolling basis. Attorney Brown may seek judicial review of this decision by commencing a civil action in the appropriate superior court. See G. L. c. 66, §§ lO(c), lOA(c). This office encourages Attorney Brown and the Authority to continue to communicate to facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(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). Sincerely, ~~. Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Deborah Brown, Esq.