David Bixby v. Chatham, Town of (SPR 20200238)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Wiliiam Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray · Supervisor ofR ecords February 25, 2020 SPR20/0238 Terence M. Whalen, AICP Principal Projects and Operations Administrator Town of Chatham 549 Main Street Chatham, MA 02633 Dear Terry Whalen: I have received the petition of David Bixby appealing the nonresponse of the Town of Chatham (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, on January 18, 2020 Mr. Bixby requested "all documents, records, etc. that establish the presence of aircraft, including tail numbers, at Chatham Airport under the FAA's definition of based aircraft." 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, § 1O A( 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, § l O(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 cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. Conclusion Subsequent to the intervention by a member of the Public Records Division, I learned that the Town is aware of this request and is working on a response. As of the date of this letter, it is my understanding that the Town has not provided Mr. Bixby a response to his request for records. 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

Tere.nce M. Whalen SPR20/0238 Page 2 February 25, 2020 Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide Mr. Bixby with a response to the request, provided in a maimer consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations without delay. A copy of any such 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. MmTay Supervisor of Records cc: David Bixby Jill R. Goldsmith