Stan Robinson v. Wayland Town Administrator (SPR 20200157)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords February 11, 2020 SPR20/0157 Elizabeth Doucette Assistant Town Administrator Town of Wayland 41 Cochituate Road Wayland, MA O1 778 Dear Ms. Doucette: I have received the petition of Stan Robinson appealing the response of the Town of Wayland (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1 ). Specifically, Mr. Robinson requested 5 identified proposals received by the Town in response to RFP 20-2030. The Town provided Mr. Robinson with a response on January 16, 2020, denying access to the responsive records. Unsatisfied with this response, Mr. Robinson petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR 20/0157, was opened as a result. 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) (written response must "identify any records, categories of records or portions of records that the agency or municipality .intends to withhold, and provide the specific reasons for such withholding, including the specific exemption or exemptions upon which the withholding is based ... "); 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). 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

Elizabeth Doucette SPR20/0157 Page 2 February 11, 2020 Current Appeal In its January 9111 response, the Town states that "[p]roposals are sealed and kept confidential, therefore are not public documents, until they have been evaluated and an award has been made per Massachusetts General Law 30B." In Mr. Robinson's appeal petition, he argues that the requested documents "are clearly proposals, not bids. Chapter 30B prohibits public access to proposals ONLY until the deadline for submission" ( emphasis in original). Based on the Town's response, I find it has not met its burden of specificity to withhold the responsive records. If the Town intends to withhold responsive documents, an exemption must be claimed as noted above. See G. L. c. 66, § 1O (b )(iv) ( custodian must identify "specific exemption or exemptions upon which the withholding is based"). Further, it is unclear which section of chapter 30B the Town is claiming to withhold the records. It is additionally unclear how this law applies to the responsive records. The Town must provide further information on this matter. Conclusion Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide a response to Mr. Robinson in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law, and its Regulations within ten (10) business days. A copy of this 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, ~~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Stan Robinson