Andrew Quemere v. Framingham, City of - City Clerk (SPR 20220985)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records May 2, 2022 SPR22/0985 P.J. Iversen City Records Access Officer City of Framingham Mayor’s Office 150 Concord Street Room B-37 Framingham, MA 01702 Dear Mr. Iversen: I have received the petition of Andrew Quemere appealing the response of the City of Framingham (City) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On April 15, 2022, Mr. Quemere requested, “[t]he settlement agreement between [the City] and Mark Tinsley” and “Mark Tinsley’s Superior Court complaint against the city.” Mr. Quemere requested that, these records be provided in an electronic format that is searchable and machine readable . . . . The records should be provided in a manner that preserves their original features—e.g., hyperlinks, color, images, etc. Records should not be printed out then scanned or subjected to other processes that would remove searchable, machine-readable text or other features. Furthermore, electronic documents that originated separately should not be combined into a single file. On April 25, 2022, the City responded. Unsatisfied with the response, Mr. Quemere petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR22/0985, was opened as a result. The Public Records Law The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A(d); 950 C.M.R. 32.03(4). “Public records” is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any agency or municipality of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26). 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

P.J. Iversen SPR22/0985 Page 2 May 2, 2022 It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. The City April 25th response In its April 25th response, the City provided Mr. Quemere with a copy of the responsive records. The City asserted that “this is the only version of the release we have available. It is searchable and machine-readable.” In another email response on April 26, 2022, the City reiterated to Mr. Quemere that, “the release provided to you is the only version we are in custody of.” Current appeal On April 25, 2022, Mr. Quemere stated that, “[t]he complaint is searchable and machine readable, but the release is not.” Preferred Format G. L. c. 66, § 6A(d) provides, in pertinent part, that “[t]he records access officer shall, to the extent feasible, provide the public record in the requestor’s preferred format or, in the absence of a preferred format, in a searchable, machine readable format.” G. L. c. 66, § 6A(d); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.04(5)(d) (“to the extent feasible, provide public records to a requester in electronic format unless the record is not available in electronic form or the requester does not have the ability to receive or access the records in electronic format and if feasible, in the requester’s preferred format. In the absence of a preferred format, the records shall be provided in a searchable machine-readable form”). In light of Mr. Quemere’s appeal, I find the City must clarify whether the responsive record can be provided in the format that Mr. Quemere requested. Conclusion Accordingly, the City is ordered to provide Mr. Quemere with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within 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.

P.J. Iversen SPR22/0985 Page 3 May 2, 2022 Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Andrew Quemere