Cindy L. Christiansen, PhD v. Milton, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20192282)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division

Rebecca S, Murray Supervisor of Records

November 18, 2019 SPR19/2282

Susan M. Galvin

Town Clerk

Town of Milton

525 Canton Avenue

Milton, MA 02186

Dear Ms. Galvin:

I have received your petition on behalf of the Town of Milton (Town) seeking relief from its obligation to produce responsive records or an extension of time to furnish copies of a requested record, or any portion thereof. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). As required by law, the Town furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). On October 28, 2019, Cindy Christiansen requested “all records, including drafts, notes, text messages, meeting minutes, meeting agendas, or emails to or from...” named individuals “related to the topics listed next that contains any of these...my name...ANAC (or its non-abbreviated equivalent), Milton Times, Block 2, MIT Study, agenda for the November 14 meeting, Tom or Tom Dougherty, R27, or Runway 27, Requests and Recommendations Report Between the dates September 16 to present...”

Petitions 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;

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

Susan M. Galvin SPR19/2282 November 18, 2019 Page 2

(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, § 10(c).

If the Supervisor determines that the request is part of a series of contemporaneous requests that are frivolous or designed to intimidate or harass, and the requests are not intended | for the broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government activity, the Supervisor may grant a longer extension or relieve the agency or municipality of its obligation to provide copies of the records sought. Id.

The filing of a petition does not affect the requirement that a Records Access Officer (RAO) shall provide an initial response to a requestor within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records, 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b).

Request for relief from obligation to produce responsive records

In its November 12, 2019 petition, “[t]he Town requests relief from the sheer volume and complexity of this response, which is one of several responses pending from Dr. Christiansen.”

Based on the information provided in its the January 19th petition, I find that the Town has not met its burden to demonstrate “the requests are part of a series of contemporaneous requests that are frivolous or designed to intimidate or harass and are not intended for the broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government activity” as required by.G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). .

Extension of time to produce responsive records

In its November 12, 2019 petition, the Town requests “‘an extension of time to respond to Dr. Christiansen’s public records request.,.Milton requests an additional 30 business days beyond the time specified under the statute...” The Town indicates “the volume of potentially responsive documents i[s] immense, consisting of approximates 10,000 pages to retrieve, review, segregate, potentially redact, and produce.”

The Town explains “the responsive documents are retained across Milton, and are also in the hands of Milton volunteers who do not have Town of Milton email addresses. Responding to these requests burdensome to Milton, and impacts the ability of Milton staff to complete its mission and other work[.]”

The Town further explains “ Milton estimates approximately 100 hours (Lhour/100 pages) to retrieve, review, segregate, potentially redact, and produce...these records may contain deliberative materials and/or attorney-client communications or attorney work-product, or other

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information protected from disclosure on the Public Records Law.” The Town notes “Milton’s response to Dr. Christiansen, asked to narrow the request.”

This office encourages the parties to communicate to facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, §10(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).

I find that in light of the volume of responsive records, the scope of redaction required, the capacity of the Town to produce the request without the extension, and the efforts undertaken by the Town in fulfilling the current and past requests, the Town has established good cause to

_ permit an extension of time. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(c)(G)-(iv).

Conclusion

For the reasons discussed above, the Town is granted an extension of 30 business days to produce responsive records. The records must be provided consistent with the Public Records ' Law and its Access Regulations. The requestor may appeal the substantive nature of the Town’s response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Additionally, the requestor may seek judicial review of this decision by commencing a civil action in the superior court under G. L. c. 66, § 10A(c).

Sincerely,

Rebecca S, Hbeeco Muay

Supervisor of Records ce: Cindy Christiansen