Rob Fasulo v. BLACKSTONE TOWN CLERK (SPR 20210014)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records January 20, 2021 SPR21/0014 Tara Sullivan Town of Blackstone 15 St. Paul Street Blackstone, MA 01504 Dear Tara Sullivan: I have received the petition of Rob Fasulo appealing the nonresponse of the Town of Blackstone (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On November 6, 2020, Mr. Fasulo requested the active voter list for the beginning of November. 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); 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). To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. As of the date of this letter, it is my understanding that the Town has not provided Mr. Fasulo a response to his request for records. Order Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide Mr. Fasulo with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations 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

Tara Sullivan SPR21/0014 Page 2 January 20, 2021 within 10 business days. 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: Rob Fasulo