Mary Dormer v. Carver, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20222203)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records October 12, 2022 SPR22/2203 Cara Dahill Town Clerk Town of Carver 108 Main Street Carver, MA 02330 Dear Ms. Dahill: I have received the petition of Mary Dormer appealing the response of the Town of Carver (Town) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On September 26, 2022, Ms. Dormer requested “…all permits, sub division plans, solar projects, special permits, and any other documents approved or denied by the Planning Board from 2017 to 2022…” On September 26, 2022, the Town responded and provided a fee estimate. Objecting to the fees, Ms. Dormer petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR22/2203, was opened as a result. Fee estimate – municipalities A municipality may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Id. A maximum fee of five cents ($.05) per page may be assessed for a black and white single or double-sided photocopy of a public record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(i). Municipalities may not assess a fee for the first (two) 2 hours of employee time to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the record or records requested unless the municipality has 20,000 people or less. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii). Where appropriate, municipalities may include as part of the fee an hourly rate equal to or less than the hourly rate attributed to the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce a record requested, but the fee shall not be more than $25 per hour. Id. However, municipalities may charge more than $25 per hour if such rate is approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). A fee shall not be assessed for time spent segregating or redacting records unless such segregation or redaction is required by law or approved by the Supervisor of Records under a 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

Cara Dahill SPR22/2203 Page 2 October 12, 2022 petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). The Town’s September 26th fee estimate In its September 26, 2022 response, the Town explained the estimate stating that it would take “…11 hours to identify and pull these projects for the 5.9 years of Planning Board projects. The total would cost would be $208.01.” On October 4, 2022, the Town provided a revised fee estimate, and stated the following: I am writing to clarify the remainder of this request now has a quoted amount of $170.19. This amount is based upon the lowest paid person in the planning office capable of performing this task at 10 hours of time allotted at $18.91 per hour. The records for [named location] that you asked to begin with have previously been quoted for the amount of $18.91 – one hour of time and $ 18.91 is for the lowest paid person in planning department capable of performing this task. . . . The total for the entire original request is the combined sum of $208.01. Because the request is large and spans over 5 years of documents that need to be pulled, multiple visits will need to be coordinated to allow for them to be reviewed and can be arranged at time of payment with the planning office. Based on the revised fee estimate it appears the Town is assessing a fee for 10 hours to search for the requested records. However, it is unclear why the Town requires that amount to time to complete the task. The Town must provide additional information explaining why the estimated amount of time is required. The Town must provide further details regarding the tasks involved and what each task entails, including the time it is allocating to searching, compiling, segregating or redacting, as well as copying the responsive records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv) (requiring the amount of the fee be reasonable). Based on the Town’s fee estimate, it is unclear if the Town is charging for segregation or redaction of the records. If the Town is charging for segregation or redaction, it is uncertain if the redactions are required by law. Please note, a fee shall not be assessed for time spent segregating or redacting records unless such segregation or redaction is required by law or approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). Petitions relating to fees must be submitted to the Supervisor within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4)(g). The Town must clarify this matter. Conclusion Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide Ms. Dormer with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within ten (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.

Cara Dahill SPR22/2203 Page 3 October 12, 2022 Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Mary Dormer