Matthew Rocheleau v. Massachusetts Bay Community College (SPR 20210657)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records March 31, 2021 SPR21/0657 Samaria Stallings, MA, SPHR Executive Director of Human Resources and Payroll Massachusetts Bay Community College 50 Oakland Street Wellesley Hills, MA 02481 Dear Ms. Stallings: I have received the petition of Matthew Rocheleau of the Boston Globe appealing the response of the Massachusetts Bay Community College (College) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On January 11, 2021, Mr. Rocheleau requested “[a]ny/all disclosures of immediate family working in Massachusetts state government that were made by individuals who applied for employment with the MassBay Community College between Jan. 1, 2015 and present.” After subsequent communications where the College produced some responsive records, Mr. Rocheleau requested the “same data for adjunct professors as well…” on March 1, 2021. The College provided a response on March 5, 2021, which included a fee estimate. Unsatisfied with the College’s response, Mr. Rocheleau petitioned this office and SPR21/0657 was opened as a result. Fee estimate - Agencies An agency may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Id. A maximum fee of five cents ($.05) per page may be assessed for a black and white single or double-sided photocopy of a public record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(i). Agencies may not assess a fee for the first four (4) hours of employee time to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the record or records requested. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(ii). Where appropriate, agencies may include as part of the fee an hourly rate equal to or less than the hourly rate attributed to the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce a record requested, but the fee shall not be more than $25 per hour. Id. A fee shall not be assessed for time spent segregating or redacting records unless such segregation or redaction is required by law or approved by the Supervisor of 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

Samaria Stallings SPR21/0657 Page 2 March 31, 2021 Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(ii); 950 C.M.R. -- 32.06(4). The College’s March 5th response In its March 5th response, the College states it is “…providing an updated fee estimate in compliance with the public records law of an hourly fee for personnel services. The College has 355 part-time employees, we estimate 5 minutes per file which will take 1,775 minutes of which the first 240 minutes are not charged. With our staff restrictions, we must charge $25 per hour for 26 hours for a total of $650.” In a supplemental response sent on March 16, 2021, the College explains “[i]t is a tedious process, all of our files are paper and in multiple locations. Each file must be pulled, signed out, reviewed to find the document in question, copy the document, detail the information on the document in a spreadsheet, sign the file back in, and filed. We will also need to review each part- time file to determine if the employee ever served as an adjunct at the College as many do.” In his appeal, Mr. Rocheleau states “the Globe's request seeks information only about adjunct professors, the college has claimed it must pull and review paper records for 355 part- timers to determine which of them have ever served as adjunct professors.” Mr. Rocheleau contends “the Globe believes the college must haven some more efficient manner to determine which of the 355 part-timers have worked as adjunct professors, which would allow the college to narrow the pool of files it must pull and significantly reduce the scope of work and the fee estimate.” Mr. Rocheleau further contends “[t]he whole purpose of these disclosure forms and the law mandating they be filled out and released as a matter of public record is for transparency. It is a sunshine disclosure; the excessive fees being quoted defy what the Legislature intended in creating this law.” Mr. Rocheleau requests “that the Supervisor order the college to: provide more detail and specificity as to how it is coming up with its fee and time estimates, including clarifying if the college can determine in a more efficient manner which employees have worked adjunct professors; and that the college be ordered to not charge fees associated with record organization, signing files in and out, creating spreadsheets that seem unnecessary, and for tasks that will only be necessary in a relatively small number of cases.” The College’s fee estimate has not explained with specificity why the indicated amount of time is necessary to produce the requested records. Specifically, it is unclear why it will take the College five (5) minutes per file to produce the responsive records. The College must also clarify the time being allotted to each task. Further, the College’s estimate lacks confirmation that the hourly rate being assessed is that of the lowest paid employee with the necessary skill required to produce the responsive records. The College indicates in its response “…all of our files are paper and in multiple locations.” Please be advised that the College cannot charge a requestor for the time it takes to search for responsive records based on the organization and management of its records. Public

Samaria Stallings SPR21/0657 Page 3 March 31, 2021 records must be maintained and kept in a manner that allows access by the public, as they are subject to mandatory disclosure upon request. G. L. c. 66, § l0(a); see G. L. c. 66, § l2; see also Reinstein v. Police Comm'r of Boston, 378 Mass. 281, 289-90 (1979). Order Accordingly, the College is ordered to provide Mr. Rocheleau with a revised response to the request, in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within ten (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: Matthew Rocheleau