Brian Keaney v. Dedham, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20191820)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray S11pen1isor ofR ecords September 20, 2019 SPR19/1820 Nancy A. Baker Interim Town Manager Town of Dedham 26 Bryant Street P.O. Box 306 Dedham, MA 0202 7 Dear Ms. Baker: I have received the petition of Brian Keaney appealing the response of the Town of Dedham (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § IOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, on March 7, 2019, Mr. Keaney requested executive session meeting minutes of the Board of Selectmen (Board) for: "August 2 and 24, 2017; September 14, 2017; October 4, 2017; November 2, 2017; December 20, 2017; January 11, 2018; March 27, 2018; May 17, 2018; May 7, 2018; and every executive session since March 9, 2018." Prior appeal The responsive records were the subject of a prior appeal. See SPRl 9/952 Detennination of the Supervisor of Records (May 24, 2019). In my May 24th dete1mination, I ordered the Town to provide Mr. Keaney a response to his March 7th request. On July 26, 2019, the Town sent minutes from November 7, 2017; February 15, 2018; March 8, 2018; and September 20, 2018. In its July 26th response, the Town indicated it would: 1. Prepare draft executive session minutes for all meetings at which an executive session was held, prioritizing time for the same each week; 2. Place such minutes before the Board for review and approval beginning in July of 2019; . 3. Review such minutes to determine whether any portions must be redacted; 4. Commit to presenting no less than five sets of executive minutes to the Board at each Board meeting, or more if poss.ible; and 5. Provide such minutes to the Mr. Keaney, redacted as appropriate, on a rolling basis. 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

Nancy A. Baker SPR19/1820 Page 2 September 20, 2019 Your July 26111 response explained, " ... the Board respectfully submits that unforeseen staffing losses and continuing shortages have significantly interfered with the Board's ability to prepare and approve many of its executive session meeting minutes from 2017 and 2018. The Board understands and accepts its obligations under the Public Records Law and is actively working with staff and Town Counsel to expedite the preparation and approval of all outstanding meeting minutes." While I understand the issues of staffing levels and the Town's day-to-day responsibly to manage the operations of the Town, to date the Town has not provided any further executive session meeting minutes; nor, communicated with Mr. Keaney to update him on the Town's progress with his March 2019 request. I urge the Town to communicate with Mr. Keaney to resolve this matter. It is my understanding that on September 20th, a Senior Attorney in the Public Records Division contacted you to obtain an update on Mr. Keaney's request, but was unable to reach you directly. Open Meeting Law Mr. Keaney' s appeal is related to the drafting of and the release of executive session meeting minutes in a timely manner, which raises issues that potentially invoke the Open Meeting Law (OML). Given that an interpretation of the OML falls within the authority of the Office of the Attorney General (AGO) and not this office, I decline to provide a determination as to the procedures and requirements involved with executive session minutes. See G. L. c. 30A, § 23. Mr. Keaney may wish to contact the Division of Open Government at the AGO should he seek an opinion on the OML. Sincerely, ~a~ Supervisor of Records cc: Brian Keaney