Ronald Alexander v. Natick, Town of - Town Administrator (SPR 20192223)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Rec~rds November 15, 2019 SPR19/2223 Melissa Melone Natick Town Administrator 13 East Central Street, 1st Floor Natick, MA 01760 Dear Ms. Melone: I have received the petition of Ronald Alexander 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 on October 1, 2019, Mr. Alexander requested: 1. All public records requests received by any Natick, MA town department (including Natick Public Schools) in calendar year 2018. 2. All responsive documents provided to the requestors in response to any and all public records requests received by any Natick, MA town department (including Natick Public Schools) in calendar year 2018. 3. All communications between the requestors in (1) and (2) and any Natick, MA town department (including Natick Public Schools) in calendar year 2018. It is my understanding that on October 10, 2019 the Town provided Mr. Alexander a response. In a follow-up letter dated October 14, 2019 Mr. Alexander expressed he would like to narrow his request to just the first two categories of information. The Public Records Law The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA(d); 950 C.M.R. 32.03(4). "Public records" is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any town of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § lO(b)(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507,511 (1995) ( custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only 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

Melissa Melone SPR19/2223 Page 2 November 15, 2019 cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. Current Appeal In his letter to this office dated October 31, 2019 Mr. Alexander writes, "I have not received a response from the Town of Natick in response to my narrowed request below. I sent the Town this narrowed request on 10/14/2019, and a response should have been provided by 10/29/2019 at the latest. Today is 10/31/2019, so the Town is now two (2) days overdue for responding to my narrowed request." Conclusion Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations without delay. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. This office encourages Mr. Alexander and the Town 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 agency to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). Any updated fee estimate by the Town must be in compliance with this determination, the Public Records Law, and its Access Regulations. Sincerely, ~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Ronald Alexander