Gracemarie & Joyce Tomaselli v. Salisbury, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20220742)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records April 12, 2022 SPR22/0742 Melinda Morrison Town Clerk Town of Salisbury 5 Beach Road Salisbury, MA 01952 Dear Ms. Morrison: I have received the petition of Gracemarie and Joyce Tomaselli appealing the response of the Town of Salisbury Town Clerk (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On March 11, 2022, Gracemarie and Joyce Tomaselli requested: the Board of Assessor's meeting votes for sewer user abatements and the sewer user abatements citing the MGL allowing the abatement(s) and a copy of each abatement signed by the Board of Assessors for (formerly 105 North End Blvd.) now 115 North End Blvd., Salisbury, MA - Map 33-50; Sewer User Abatements for the Years: 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000. On March 23 and March 24, 2022, the Town responded that the Town has no records responsive to the requests. As a result, Gracemarie and Joyce Tomaselli petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor), and this appeal was opened. Subsequent to the opening of this appeal, the Town provided an April 4, 2022 supplemental response. In its response, the Town confirms that it has no records responsive to the request. Included with its April 4th response, the Town provided “Form RMU-2 – Application for Destruction Permission,” submitted to the Records Management Unit of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on December 18, 2018. The Supervisor approved the destruction of the Office of the Assessor’s Abatement Certificates for the Inclusive Dates of: 01/70-12/2015. Gracemarie and Joyce Tomaselli are advised, under the Public Records Law a custodian is not required to create a record in response to a public records request. See G. L. c. 66, § 6A(d). The duty to comply with requests for records extends to those records that exist and are in 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

Melinda Morrison SPR22/0742 Page 2 April 12, 2022 possession, custody, or control of the custodian of records at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(ii). Conclusion Accordingly, where the Town confirmed that it does not possess the requested records, and has no duty to create records responsive to the request, I will now consider this administrative appeal closed. With respect to the request for meeting minutes, this raises issues that potentially invoke the Open Meeting Law. Given that an interpretation of the Open Meeting Law falls within the authority of the Office of the Attorney General (AGO) and not this office, I decline to provide a determination under the Public Records Law at this time. See G. L. c. 30A, § 23. It is recommended that you contact the AGO should you seek determination on this issue. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Ms. Gracemarie and Ms. Joyce Tomaselli