Jeff Brown v. Gloucester, City of - Legal Department (SPR 20202009)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records October 21, 2020 SPR20/2009 Chip Payson General Counsel City of Gloucester Legal Department City Hall, 9 Dale Avenue Gloucester, MA 01930 I have received your petition on behalf of the City of Gloucester (City) seeking relief from its obligation to produce responsive records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). In its petition, the City indicated requestor Jeff Brown has submitted 60 public records request “[b]eginning on April 24, 2018 through October 16, 2020.” 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; (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 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

Chip Payson, Esq. SPR20/2009 Page 2 October 21, 2020 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 requester within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b). Current petition In its October 19, 2020, petition, the City is “requesting relief on behalf of the RAO for any future public records requests from Jeff Brown that pertain to the Dogtown area of Gloucester.” A member of the Public Records Division staff contacted the City and clarified the City is requesting relief “from having to continue to respond to Mr. Brown's public records requests concerning Dogtown.” Given that the City is seeking relief outside the scope of statutory authority given to the Supervisor under the Public Records Law, consequently, I am unable to grant the relief sought by the City. Conclusion For the reasons discussed above, I do not have the statutory authority to grant the City’s request for relief of its obligation to respond to future communications. However, the City may petition the Supervisor for extensions of time or relief of the obligation to respond to pending requests for public records that meet the statutory requirements for relief to be granted. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). The City is advised it must furnish a copy of any future petition to the requestor, as required by law. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Jeff Brown