Brooks A. Ames v. Brookline, Town of - Police Department (SPR 20200243)

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

Rebecca S, Murray Supervisor of Records

February 14, 2020 SPR20/0243

Neil Harrington

Traffic/Records Division Supervisor

Brookline Police Department

350 Washington Street Brookline, MA 02445

Dear Mr. Harrington:

I have received your petition on behalf of the Brookline Police Department (Department) requesting permission to charge for time spent segregating or redacting responsive records under G. L. 66, § 10(d)(iv) as well as to charge an hourly rate over $25. As required by law, the Department furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). On February 6, 2020, the Department received a request for records from Attorney Brooks A. Ames for the following records:

“1) All recordings of calls to the police relating to the incident; 2) All CAD reports relating to the incident;

3) All recordings of radio transmissions relating to the incident. 4) All video obtained by the police relating to the incident.

5) All police reports relating to the incident.”

Petition to Assess Fees

A fee shall not be assessed for time spent segregating or redacting records unless such segregation or redaction is required by law or approved by the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10 (d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii); 950 C.MLR. 32.06(4).

In rendering such a decision, the Supervisor is required to consider the following: a) the public interest served by limiting the cost of public access to the records; b) the financial ability of the requestor to pay the additional or increased fees; and c) any other relevant extenuating circumstances. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv).

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

Neil Harrington SPR20/0243 Page 2 February 14, 2020

The statute sets out a two-prong test for determining whether the Supervisor may approve a municipality’s petition to allow the municipality to charge for time spent segregating or redacting records, The first prong is whether the request for records was made for a commercial purpose. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). It is my determination that this request was not made for a commercial purpose.

The second prong of the test is whether the fee represents an actual and good faith representation by the municipality to comply with the request. The Supervisor must consider 1) if the fee is necessary such that the request could not have been prudently completed without the redaction or segregation; 2) the amount of the fee is reasonable; and 3) the fee is not designed to limit, deter or prevent access to requested public records. Id.

Petitions seeking a waiver of statutory limits to fees assessed to segregate and/or redact public records must be made within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records, 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4)(g).

Fee Estimates

A municipality may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Id. A maximum fee of five cents ($.05) per page may be assessed for a black and white single or double-sided photocopy of a public record. G. L. c, 66, § 10(d)(i).

Municipalities may not assess a fee for the first two hours of employee time to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the record or records requested unless the municipality has 20,000 people or less. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii). Where appropriate, municipalities may include as part of the fee an hourly rate equal to or less than the hourly rate attributed to the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce a record requested, but the fee shall not be more than $25 per hour. Id. However, municipalities may charge more than $25 per hour if such rate is approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv).

A fee shall not be assessed for time spent segregating or redacting records unless such segregation or redaction is required by law or approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). Petitions relating to fees must be submitted to the Supervisor within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4)(g).

Current Petition

In its petition dated February 10, 2020, the Department states the request “will require 4 hours for segregation and redaction of audio files. Per the public records law we will not charge a fee for the first 2 hours.” The Department explains “[t]he files that are requested are maintained on the Department’s secured server. Access to these digital audio files are only accessible by the

Neil Harrington SPR20/0243 Page 3 February 14, 2020

Department’s IT Officers, as they are also the only employees that would have the software and ability to copy and redact the files as well.”

Additionally, the Department asserts that “[t]he lowest paid employee with access to these records who can perform the task required for this public records request is the IT Officer of the Department. To allow an employee of lower rank/pay access would violate our own department policy on confidentiality and security, and also jeopardize our status as an accredited police department. As no other employee is able to fill this request we are petitioning to be allowed to increase the hourly fee from the $25 to $30.38, which is the hourly rate of the lowest ranking IT Officer,”

Conclusion

For the reasons described above, I will allow the Department to assess a fee for the time. spent segregating responsive records. Further, the Department may charge for the time spent to compile and segregate responsive records in excess of $25 per hour for the provision of the requested records, However, this allowance is limited to the rate of $30.38 per hour.

Please note, Attorney Ames has the right to seek judicial review of this decision by commencing a civil action in the appropriate superior court. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv)(4), 10A(c).

Sincerely,

Rebecca S, Feeoan. Mura

Supervisor of Records

cc: Brooks A. Ames, Esq.