John A. Hawkinson v. Cambridge, City of - Office of the City Solicitor (SPR 20202496)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records December 29, 2020 SPR20/2496 Seah Levy Public Records Access Officer City of Cambridge Law Department 795 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 Dear Ms. Levy: I have received the petition of John Hawkinson appealing the response of the City of Cambridge (City) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Hawkinson requested: “minutes or notes or agendas for the Small Business Advisory Committee (SBAC).” In a December 14, 2020 response, the City states, “[d]ue to the number of expected documents and the time needed for review the City hereby identifies a reasonable timeframe to respond to your request of 25 business days from the date of receipt of your initial request, pursuant to G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vi).” As a result of the City’s December 14th response, Mr. Hawkinson petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor), and this appeal was opened. In a December 22nd email, you informed this office, “…we have been working on a response, we were simply unable to review all the records in the 10 day period – which was the reason for the time extension. I hope to have this out soon…” Conclusion The City must provide said response without delay. Mr. Hawkinson may appeal the substantive nature of the response within 90 days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Accordingly, I will consider this appeal closed. 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

Seah Levy SPR20/2496 Page 2 December 29, 2020 Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: John Hawkinson