Sean Hempseed v. Brockton, City of (SPR 20212728)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records October 25, 2021 SPR21/2728 Allison M. Cogliano, Esq. Assistant City Solicitor 45 School Street Brockton, MA 02301 Dear Attorney Cogliano: On October 18, 2021, this office received your petition on behalf of the City of Brockton (City) seeking relief from its obligation to produce responsive records. G. L. c. 66, § l0(c). As required by law, the City furnished a copy of their petition to the requestor, Sean “Hempseed” Sheridan. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). Request for Relief In it’s October 18th pettion, the City seeks “…a petition for a finding of harassment pursuant to 950 CMR 32.08(2)(b)(2) and M.G.L. ch. 66, §10(c).” The City notes,“[i]n the last eight weeks, Mr. Sheridan has submitted forty-one (41) public record requests to the City of Brockton. As demonstrated by the communications above, Mr. Sheridan’s requests are harassing and constitute a misuse of the public records law. The City has responded to Mr. Sheridan’s requests to the best of its ability, and City employees have answered his questions, which is not required under the public records law, in an attempt to work with Mr. Sheridan. However, the back-to-back, constant requests continue, which has placed an extreme burden on City departments, particularly the legal, police and the information technology departments.” The City contends that “Mr. Sheridan has made it clear that he is requesting documents because of his desire to obtain a Host Community Agreement with the City, a commercial purpose as defined by 950 CMR 32.00. Further, Mr. Sheridan has made threats and statements to the Mayor and City Councilors, which demonstrates his motivation for his request. His repetitive requests, incessant emails, and discourteous statements and accusations have taken up an incredible amount of the City’s time and resources. As such, the City makes this request for the Supervisor to find Mr. Sheridan’s requests to be harassing and to relieve the City of its obligation to respond to him any further.” 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

Allison M. Cogliano, Esq. SPR21/2728 Page 2 October 25, 2021 Conclusion Based on the information provided in the City’s petition, I find that the City has not demonstrated the requests are frivolous and not intended for the broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government activity, as required by G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Sean Hempseed Sheridan