Effie Panagiotakis v. Ipswich, Town of - Building Department (SPR 20200782)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records May 29, 2020 SPR20/0782 James Bone Building Commissioner Town of Ipswich 25 Green Street Ipswich, MA 01938 Dear Mr. Bone: I have received the petition of Attorney Effie Panagiotakis appealing the response of the Town of Ipswich (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Attorney Panagiotakis requested fifteen categories of records related to Building Department activities, including permits, notices of violations, rules and regulations, and other categories of documents. The Town responded to Attorney Panagiotakis on February 21, 2020, providing some categories of responsive records, providing a link to access other categories, and indicating that the Town intended to assess a fee for production of other records. Unsatisfied with this response, Attorney Panagiotakis petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR20/0782, was opened as a result. Fee estimates – municipalities 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) 2 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 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

James Bone SPR20/0782 Page 2 May 29, 2020 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). Current Appeal In her appeal petition, Attorney Panagiotakis asserts that the Town has failed to produce the requested permit documents. In a March 27, 2020 email, the Town states that permit records from October 12, 2010 to the present are available online, and provides a link to an online portal containing the records. The Department further explains that records created before this time period are contained in paper files, and that a search for such responsive records would require “hundreds of hours of search time.” Subsequent to a telephone conversation between a staff member of the Public Records Division and any attorney representing the Town, I learned the Town intends to provide a more specific fee estimate for the production of remaining documents. This office encourages the parties to communicate to facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vii) (an agency or 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 or municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). Conclusion Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide Attorney Panagiotakis with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law, and its regulations as soon as practicable. 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. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Effie Panagiotakis, Esq. Austin Anderson, Esq.