Chris Infami v. Brookline, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20211569)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records July 9, 2021 SPR21/1569 Benjamin Kaufman Town Clerk Town of Brookline 333 Washington Street, Room 104 Brookline, MA 02445-6853 Dear Mr. Kaufman: I have received the petition of Chris Infami appealing the response of the Town of Brookline Fire Department (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On June 1, 2021, Chris Infami requested, “… all calls for service reports, all incident reports, all fire reports, all medical emergency reports, all 911 audio files/calls, all 911 documents, all general calls and all documents pertaining to [an identified address] … pertaining to the month of May.” Previous appeal This request was the subject of a previous appeal. See SPR21/1402 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (June 17, 2021). The Town responded on June 22, 2021. Unsatisfied with the response, Mr. Infami appealed and SPR21/1569 was opened as result. 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(d)(iv) (written response must “identify any records, categories of records or portions of records that the agency or municipality intends to withhold, and provide the specific reasons for such withholding, including the specific exemption or exemptions upon which the withholding is based…”); 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 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

Benjamin Kaufman SPR21/1569 Page 2 July 9, 2021 burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). The Town’s June 22nd response In its June 2nd response, the Town stated, “[d]ue to outstanding monies being owed for previous public requests, your request is denied … [t]he balance due is $0.05.” Current appeal On June 23rd, Mr. Infami stated, “[p]lease obtain the public records.” The balance owed relates to response the Town prepared in response to Mr. Infami’s request for records. See SPR20/1402. It is unclear whether Mr. Infami actually received the records. The Town must clarify this issue. Conclusion Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide Mr. Infami with a response to his request in a manner consistent with the Public Records Law and its Access Regulations within 10 business days. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. Mr. Infami may appeal the substantive nature of the Town's response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Chris Infami