Glen Ayers v. Greenfield, City of - City Clerk (SPR 20220326)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records February 15, 2022 SPR22/0326 Kathryn J. Scott City Clerk City of Greenfield 14 Court Square Greenfield, MA 01301 Dear Kathryn J. Scott: I have received your petition on behalf of the City of Greenfield (City) seeking an extension of time to produce records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). As required by law, it is my understanding that the City furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor. Id. In a letter dated January 26, 2022, Glen Ayers requested: “[a]ny list, summary, spreadsheet, accounting report, or other tally that lists the complete expenses or payments that the City of Greenfield has expended to date on the Lunt Property brownfield clean-up, including all payments to contractors, experts, licensed site professionals, outside consultants, and engineers who were paid by the City for work done related the Lunt property as part of the site investigation, remediation, redevelopment, or other work related to the City’s efforts to clean-up the contamination at the Lunt property, beginning in 2010 and including all expenses up to the present day.” Petition for an Extension of Time Under the Public Records Law, upon a showing of good cause, the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may grant a single extension to an agency not to exceed 20 business days and a single extension to a municipality not to exceed 30 business days. In determining whether there has been a showing of good cause, the Supervisor shall consider, but shall not be limited to considering: (i) the need to search for, collect, segregate or examine records; (ii) the scope of redaction required to prevent unlawful disclosure; (iii) the capacity or the normal business hours of operation of the agency or municipality to produce the request without the extension; (iv) efforts undertaken by the agency or municipality in fulfilling the current request and previous requests; 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

Kathryn J. Scott SPR22/0326 Page 2 February 15, 2022 (v) whether the request, either individually or as part of a series of requests from the same requestor, is frivolous or intended to harass or intimidate the agency or municipality; and (vi) the public interest served by expeditious disclosure. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). If the Supervisor determines that the request is part of a series of contemporaneous requests that are frivolous or designed to intimidate or harass, and the requests are not intended for the broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government activity, the Supervisor may grant a longer extension or relieve the agency or municipality of its obligation to provide copies of the records sought. Id. The filing of a petition does not affect the requirement that a Records Access Officer (RAO) must provide an initial response to a requestor within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b). Current Petition In its petition dated February 9, 2022, the City states the following, “[t]he City expects to be able to provide a majority of the requested information to Mr. Ayers electronically through our public records system, Next Request, by the close of business today. However, not all the information is able to be provided today. The information not able to be provided today will take a good amount of time to access. When this information is obtained it will be provided as quickly as possible. The City requests an extension of 25 days from the date of receipt of the request to March 2, 2022. The City’s reason for requesting an extension is: • The magnitude of records is very large, spanning back to 2010. • The data requested ‘lives’ in two separate financial systems which will require additional staff to do the research in that system. • The Accountant is researching the records which is taking an enormous amount of time given that the office is short staffed, this department is running with half the usual staff.” Conclusion I light of the above, I find the City has established good cause to permit an extension of time. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(c)(i)-(iv). I hereby grant the City an extension of 25 business days to furnish copies of records responsive to Mr. Ayer’s request. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). To the extent possible, the City must provide responsive records on a rolling basis. Further, this office encourages Mr. Ayers and the City to continue to communicate to facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably.

Kathryn J. Scott SPR22/0326 Page 3 February 15, 2022 Please note, Mr. Ayers has the right to seek judicial review of this decision by commencing a civil action in the appropriate superior court. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv)(4),10A(c). Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Glen Ayers