Allan Ihrer v. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (SPR 20222859)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records December 20, 2022 SPR22/2859 Julie A. Ciollo, Esq. Assistant General Counsel Records Access Officer Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Ten Park Plaza Boston, MA 02116 Dear Attorney Ciollo: I have received your petition on behalf of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) seeking permission to charge for time spent segregating or redacting responsive records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c); G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). As required by law, the MBTA furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). On November 29, 2022, Allan Ihrer requested numerous categories of records concerning the “Arborway Yard Bus Storage and Maintenance Facility and Backup Headquarters,” including “building and site related information,” “vehicle and traffic related information,” and “related emails, including attachments.” Subsequent to the opening of this petition, in an email to this office and the MBTA on December 14, 2022, Mr. Ihrer indicates that he will reach out to MBTA staff to modify the scope of his request, and requests that the MBTA “not proceed with that page by page review/redaction process.” In light of Mr. Ihrer’s December 14th email, I find it is unnecessary to opine on the MBTA’s petition. This office encourages Mr. Ihrer and the MBTA to continue to communicate directly in order to facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vii) (an agency shall suggest a reasonable modification to the scope of the request or offer to assist the requestor to modify the scope of the request if doing so would enable the agency to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). Any subsequent fee estimate from the MBTA must be made in compliance with G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(viii) and G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii). 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

Julie A. Ciollo, Esq. SPR22/2859 Page 2 December 20, 2022 Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Allan Ihrer