Jeffrey Fournier v. Office of the Auditor of the Commonwealth (SPR 20210563)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records March 12, 2021 SPR21/0563 Alicia Fay Daniel, Esq. Acting Deputy General Counsel Office of the State Auditor One Ashburton Place, Room 1819 Boston, MA 02108 Dear Attorney Daniel: I have received your petition on behalf of the Office of the State Auditor (Office) seeking relief from its obligation to produce responsive records or an extension of time to produce records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). As required by law, the Office furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor, Jeffrey Fournier. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). In this matter, Mr. Fournier requested 11 categories of records concerning the Office. 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). 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

Alicia F. Daniel, Esq. SPR21/0563 Page 2 March 12, 2021 If the Supervisor determines that the request is part of a series of contemporaneous 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 requestor within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b). In its March 8th petition, the Office states, “[i]f the Supervisor of Records denies the instant petition for relief for its obligation to respond to the requestor, the OSA petitions, in the alternative, pursuant to 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4), for an extension of time within which the OSA must respond to each of the outstanding requests for public records.” The Office contends that “...responding to the instant public records requests will require the OSA’s understaffed Legal Department a great deal of time to search for and compile potentially responsive records...The OSA, therefore, requests a minimum of an additional twenty (20) business days to respond to the requestor.” The Office asserts that a tremendous amount of time is spent receiving and processing public records requests from this one requestor. You state, “I am becoming unable to perform my other duties (such as substantive audit work and responding to legitimate public records requests). Mr. Fournier’s frivolous requests are far from harmless; they are negatively affecting the interests of other constituents who rely on the work of the OSA.” I find that in light of the capacity of the Office to produce the request without the extension, and the efforts undertaken by the Office in fulfilling the request, the Office has established good cause to permit an extension of time. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(c)(i)-(iv). I hereby grant the Office an extension of 20 business days to furnish copies of records responsive to Mr. Fournier’s request. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). Conclusion Please note the requestor has the right to seek judicial review of this decision by commencing a civil action in the appropriate superior court. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Jeffrey Fournier