James R. Waugh v. Belmont, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20220898)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records April 28, 2022 SPR22/0898 Ellen O’Brien Cushman Town of Belmont Office of the Town Clerk 455 Concord Avenue Belmont, MA 02478 Dear Ms. O’Brien Cushman: I have received the petition of James R. Waugh appealing the response of the Town of Belmont (Town) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. Waugh requested “…[t]he Town’s Covid-19 safety violation citations and safety-related complaints, filed from March 10, 2020 to the present.” A representative of the Town provided Mr. Waugh with a production of materials on April 1, 2022 and a further production on April 8, 2022. Upon review of the file, it appears that Mr. Waugh provided a copy of his original written request and indicated the reason for filing an appeal with the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor). However, Mr. Waugh did not provide a copy of the written response and did not provide copies of production(s) of records he may have received from the Town. The Public Records Access Regulations, which govern the procedural aspects of all appeals, require that requestors must provide to the Supervisor complete copies of all correspondence associated with the petition. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1)(f). Mr. Waugh may wish to re-submit his petition to the Supervisor when all copies of the required documents have been retrieved. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Accordingly, I am unable to opine on this appeal at this time. If Mr. Waugh seeks to file an appeal with the Supervisor with the necessary correspondence, this office will be able to open a new appeal. 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

Ms. Ellen O’Brien Cushman SPR22/0898 Page 2 April 28, 2022 Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: James R. Waugh