Rich Saltzberg v. Tisbury, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20211747)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records July 28, 2021 SPR21/1747 J. Hillary Conklin Town Clerk Town of Tisbury PO Box 606 51 Spring St. Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 Dear Ms. Conklin: I have received the petition of Rich Saltzberg of the Martha’s Vineyard Times appealing the response of the Town of Tisbury (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On July 13, 2021, Mr. Saltzberg requested “[a]ny and all KP Law invoices relative to the police department generated between 2011 and 2020.” The Town provided a response to Mr. Saltzberg on July 14, 2021. Unsatisfied with the Town’s response, Mr. Saltzberg petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR21/1747, was opened as a result. Fee estimate – municipalities 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 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 hour 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 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

J. Hillary Conklin SPR21/1747 Page 2 July 28, 2021 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 Town’s June 14th response On June 14, 2021, the Town responded to Mr. Saltzberg by providing him with a fee estimate stating it “paid 154 invoices from KP Law/Kopelman & Paige. Each invoice is filed in the warrant package in which it was paid and many of them are filed in remote storage. To find each invoice, review it to see whether it covered any police matters, photocopy it, refile it, and redact the photocopy would be on average an estimated 25 minutes per invoice.” The Town explained the “estimated cost would be $1,585” and “[g]iven the demands of closing our fiscal year, we anticipate that we would be able to complete this work sometime in September.” The Town provided a supplemental response on July 15, 2021 explaining the calculation it used to arrive at the estimated cost of $1,585. The calculation is listed as follows: # Invoices 154 Minutes per invoice 25 Total Minutes 3850 Hours 64.166667 Hourly rate $ 24.63 Total Cost $ 1,580.43 Estimated # copies 75 Cost per page $ 0.05 Cost of copies $ 3.75 The Town further explained in the July 15th response, “the actual cost to the town would be considerably higher, because the individual doing the work is paid over $33 per hour. The estimated date to complete the work is based on [the Town’s] current work load, with fiscal- year-end work occupying much of [the Town’s] available capacity for the next several weeks.” Based on the Town’s response, it is unclear why the Town requires the amount of time of 25 minutes per invoice indicated to produce the requested invoice records. The Town must provide further details about the tasks required to produce these records. The Town must clarify these matters. Conclusion Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide Mr. Saltzberg with a response to the request, provided 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 .

J. Hillary Conklin SPR21/1747 Page 3 July 28, 2021 Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Rich Saltzberg Jonathan V. Snyder