John R. Heresy, Jr. v. Hingham, Town of - Town Administrator (SPR 20202598)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records January 12, 2020 SPR20/2598 Mr. Thomas Mayo Town of Hingham Town Administrator 210 Central Street Hingham, MA 02043 Dear Mr. Mayo: I have received the petition of John R. Heresy Jr., regarding the nonresponse of the Town of Hingham (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On October 2, 2020, Mr. Heresy requested the following: 1. Amount of money the Town has spent on tearing down the Pitts House on lower Main. St., Hingham Mass. 2. Application for demolition of such property 3. Application for Head House building rear of Town Hall 4. What department head oversaw construction of the building of what department 5. Application for Storage Shed at Bare Cove Park Lynch Field, Beal St. 6. Number of citations for by-law-violation on signs and banners 2016-2019. Unsatisfied with the Town’s response to this request, Mr. Heresy appealed and SPR20/2598 was opened as a result. The Public Records Law The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A(d); 950 C.M.R. 32.03(4). "Public records" is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any town of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(iv) (written response must "identify any records, categories of records or portions of records that the agency or municipality intends to withhold, and provide the specific reasons for such withholding, including the specific 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

Thomas Mayo SPR20/2598 Page 2 January 12, 2021 exemption or exemptions upon which the withholding is based ... "); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). The Town’s November 17, 2020 response On November 17th the Town provided the following response “…58 Main Street- paperwork attached. 341 Main Street- paperwork attached, this building falls under the Recreation Department, Building did perform inspections on the work and I believe it was overseen by Roger Fernandes, who was the with the DPW. 226 Beal Street - paperwork attached. Number of citations written on signs and banners 2016-2019 - We don't believe we wrote any citations, we just asked for the signs/banners to be removed.” Current Appeal Mr. Heresy indicated in his current appeal that the Town did not provide a timely response. Mr. Heresy emphasized that the Town failed to follow his instructions for sending a response to his request. Conclusion Seeing that the Town provided a response which included records, it is unclear what the basis of Mr. Heresy’s appeal is. Mr. Heresy is reminded that all petitions for appeal "shall specifically describe the nature of the requestor's objections to the response or failure to timely respond." 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1)(f). Please be aware that the request must reasonably describe the records sought. G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(i). Mr. Heresy may wish to clarify this matter and his objections to the Town’s response. Mr. Heresy is also reminded that an appeal to this office must be filed within ninety calendar days of the date of the request letter, or within ninety calendar days of the date of a written response from the record custodian. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1)(d); 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1)(e). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: John R. Heresy Jr