Patrick Courtney v. Beverly, City of - Police Department (SPR 20211549)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records July 2, 2021 SPR21/1549 David Gelineau Purchasing Agent City of Beverly 191 Cabot Street Beverly, MA 01915 Dear Mr. Gelineau: I have received the petition of Patrick Courtney of the Foundation for Fair Contracting of Massachusetts, on behalf of Tom Wall of Heat and Frost Insulators Local 6, appealing the response of the City of Beverly (City) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Mr. Wall requested records regarding the City of Beverly Police Station project under the project management of W.T. Rich Co. The City provided Mr. Wall with records; however, he is still seeking the Covid sign-in sheets from the project. In a June 2, 2021 response, the City informed Mr. Wall, “[t]he records you have requested are available. It is estimated there is $500 in administrative costs to fulfill your [Public Records Law] request. The most expensive part of that is the physical copying or scanning hard copy COVID sign-in sheets. We have these as hard copy only and there are a lot of them for each day. We need to either copy all of them. Or search through and find the relevant ones.” Unsatisfied with the response, Mr. Courtney petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor), and this appeal was opened. Fees – municipalities If there are any fees associated with a response a written, good faith estimate must be provided. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(viii); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2). Once fees are paid, a records custodian must provide the responsive records. A municipality may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Id. A maximum fee of five cents ($.05) per page may be assessed for a black and white single or double-sided photocopy of a 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

David Gelineau SPR21/1549 Page 2 July 2, 2021 public record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(i). Municipalities may not assess a fee for the first (two) 2 hours of employee time to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the record or records requested unless the municipality has 20,000 people or less. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii). Where appropriate, municipalities 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. However, municipalities may charge more than $25 per how if such rate is approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). 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 Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). The City’s Fee Estimate The City informed Mr. Wall that the City estimated there is $500 in administrative costs to fulfill his public records request. However, the City did not provide any details of how it arrived at that figure to provide Mr. Wall with the responsive Covid sign-in sheets from the police station project. The only information the City provided to Mr. Wall is that the most expensive part of the $500 is copying or scanning hard copies of the Covid sign-in sheets. I find that if the City intends to assess fees to provide Mr. Wall with the records, the City must provide Mr. Wall with an estimate in compliance with the Public Records Law, as referenced in this determination. Conclusion Accordingly, the City is ordered to provide Mr. Courtney with a response to Mr. Wall’s request, in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations 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: Patrick Courtney, Foundation for Fair Contracting of Massachusetts