John Connelly v. Norfolk, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20202186)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records November 23, 2020 SPR20/2186 Peter L. Mello, Esq. Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP Town of Norfolk 300 Crown Colony Drive, Suite 410 Quincy, MA 02169 Dear Attorney Mello: I have received the petition of Attorney John Connelly appealing the response of the Town of Norfolk (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, on October 19, 2020, Attorney Connelly requested: “1. Copies of all internal Town documents and correspondence regarding the Waste Water Treatment Plant from 2015 through the present. 2. Copies of all internal Town documents and correspondence regarding the revenues received and/or paid by the Town regarding the wireless communication carrier with antenna on the Town-owned water tower located on Lot 26 on Land Court Plan 37477G from 2015 through the present.” Previous Petition The requested records were the subject of a previous petition from the Town. See SPR20/2125 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (November 9, 2020). In my November 9th determination I found that since the responsive records are likely to contain privileged information, the Town had met its burden to explain how the request could not prudently be completed without redaction or segregation or by assessing a fee in excess of $25.00 per hour. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). Further, I found the Town had established how it may assess a fee for the time spent to segregate and redact these requested records at $75 per hour. Unsatisfied with the Town’s response in its November 2, 2020 petition, Attorney Connelly submitted a petition to this office and SPR20/2186 was opened as a result. 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

Peter L. Mello, Esq. SPR20/2186 Page 2 November 23, 2020 Modification of the scope of the request In his November 6, 2020, appeal, Attorney Connelly states “…NTC has revised its Original Request to assist the Town in identifying likely relevant electronically stored information for review and production.” Subsequent to the opening of this appeal, the Town emailed this office on November 17, 2020, stating “…the Town is working with Attorney Connelly (copied) in responding to the Revised Records Request that he included in his above- referenced appeal dated November 6, 2020, and the parties have agreed to alternative extended deadlines with respect to the Town’s fee estimate and written response.” This office encourages Attorney Connelly and the Town to continue to communicate to facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably. Any fee estimate by the Town must be in compliance with the Public Records Law and its Access Regulations. In light of Attorney Connelly’s revised request, I find it unnecessary to opine on the Town’s November 2nd response at this time. Accordingly, I consider this administrative appeal closed. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: John Connelly, Esq.