Angela Siciliano v. Lancaster, Town of (SPR 20211196)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records May 25, 2021 SPR21/1196 Orlando Pacheco Town Administrator Town of Lancaster Prescott Building 701 Main Street Lancaster, MA 01523 Dear Mr. Pacheco: I have received the petition of Angela Siciliano appealing the response of the Town of Lancaster (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Ms. Siciliano requested: a copy of the entire Zoom recording for the May 5, 2021 meeting at 9:30 am of the Town and the Nashoba Valley Regional Dispatch District. In a May 11, 2021 email response, the Town indicated, “[m]y apologies. This meeting did not record. Apparently the [Town] host account has exceeded its storage capacity so the meeting did not save. We may want to have the district invest in a separate zoom account.” Unsatisfied with the May 11th response, Ms. Siciliano petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor), and this appeal was opened. In a conversation with an attorney in the Public Records Division, the Town confirmed that the requested recording from May 5th meeting on Zoom does not exist due to the meeting not being recorded as planned. Via email on May 12th, the Town provided Ms. Siciliano with a May 11th email from Zoom stating, “[y]ou have exceeded your cloud recording storage recording limit. Storage Limit: 10 GB; Storage Used: 24.85 GB…” The duty to comply with requests for records extends to those records that exist and are in the possession, custody, or control of the custodian of records at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(ii). The Town has explained to Ms. Siciliano and this office that the recording of the May 5th meeting does not exist due to a recording error. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(ii), (b)(ii). You also informed this office that the Town is currently working on the draft minutes 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

Orlando Pacheco SPR21/1196 Page 2 May 25, 2021 from the May 5th meeting, and will provide those minutes to Ms. Siciliano as soon as they are drafted. The Town informed this office that there are no further records responsive to Ms. Siciliano’s May 5th request. Conclusion Given that the requested records do not exist and there is no duty to create such records, accordingly, this case is closed. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Angela Siciliano