Robert W. Galvin v. Natick, Town of (SPR 20212016)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records August 20, 2021 SPR21/2016 Diane Packer Town Clerk Town of Natick 13 East Central Street Natick, MA 01760 Dear Ms. Packer: I have received the petition of Robert W. Galvin, Esq. of Galvin & Galvin, PC appealing the response of the Town of Natick (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On April 16, 2021, Attorney Galvin requested ten (10) categories of records regarding adult use marijuana retailer applicants and marijuana establishments. The Town acknowledged the request on April 29, 2021 and provided a response dated May 4, 2021 which claimed the attorney-client privilege and work-product doctrine as well as other exemptions to the Public Records Law that may apply once the records are reviewed. In addition, the Town provided a $3,000.00 fee estimate. Attorney Galvin provided the Town with a check for $3,000.00, and asked for a status report on June 14th and June 25th from the Town’s Legal Counsel, Karis L. North of Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP. On June 29th, Attorney Galvin was informed that thousands of emails were provided to Attorney North, and that the emails were being reviewed. On July 7th, Attorney Galvin was sent a series of 10 emails containing various application materials. Upon Attorney Galvin’s review of the records provided to him on July 7th, he indicates in his August 6th email to this office that he did not receive all the emails and text messages from the individuals he mentioned in his April request. On July 23rd, Attorney North informed Attorney Galvin that there are no text messages, but that she was still working on outstanding emails. On August 6th, after still not being provided with all the responsive records, Attorney Galvin petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor), and this appeal was opened. In his petition, Attorney Galvin asserts, “I was not able to counsel a client as a result of failing to receive the requested information on a timely fashion. I still have no emails at this time 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

Diane Packer, Town Clerk SPR21/2016 Page 2 August 20, 2021 which is within 90 days of the responsive materials that were produced being produced in July 2021.” Response time for producing records G. L. c. 66, § 10(b) provides, in pertinent part, that if the magnitude or difficulty of the request unduly burdens the other responsibilities of the agency or municipality such that the agency or municipality cannot provide records within 10 business days, the agency or municipality must inform the requestor in writing within 10 business days. With respect to the timeframe to produce responsive records, the written response shall: identify a reasonable timeframe in which the agency or municipality shall produce the public records sought; provided, that for an agency, the timeframe shall not exceed 15 business days following the initial receipt of the request for public records and for a municipality the timeframe shall not exceed 25 business days following the initial receipt of the request for public records; and provided further, that the requestor may voluntarily agree to a response date beyond the timeframes set forth herein. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vi). Whereas Attorney Galvin’s request was submitted on April 16, 2021, and the Town has not provided all the responsive records pertaining to the public records request, I find that the Town has not met its burden in responding to the request in accordance with G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vi). Consequently, I find the Town must provide an estimated date as to when it intends to provide the outstanding records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a) (records must be provided without unreasonable delay). To the extent possible, the Town must provide responsive records on a rolling basis. Order Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide Attorney Galvin with a 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: Robert W. Galvin, Esq., Galvin & Galvin PC Karis L. North, Esq., Murphy, Hesse, Toomey & Lehane, LLP