Jeff Cyr v. South Hadley, Town of - Fire District (SPR 20230333)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records March 6, 2023 SPR23/0333 Terie B. Fleury Treasurer – Clerk Town of South Hadley Fire District No. 1 144 Newton Street South Hadley, MA 01075 Dear Ms. Fleury: I have received the petition of Jeffrey A. Cyr appealing the response of the Town of South Hadley Fire District No. 1 (Fire District) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On January 12, 2023, Mr. Cyr requested the following records: [1] The Water Available Surplus Amount for the FY 24 Budget process [2] A complete expenditure report from FY22 out of the Soft Right Accounting System [3] Copies of Invoices from Sullivan Hayes and Quinn for all of Fiscal Year 22 [4] Copies of Invoices from Sullivan Hayes and Quinn for all of Fiscal Year 23 [5] Copies of Invoices from [a named individual] [6] A copy of the Fiscal year 21 Audit report and Management letter from the Districts’ Auditor Scanlon Associates [7] A copy of the quarterly statements for FY22 and FY23 from Bartholomew & Company for all Funds managed by Bartholomew for the District. [8] Copies of all the Prudential Committee Draft Minutes of the following meetings, which have not been posted on the Districts’ website: 9-14-22; 10-26- 22; 11-28-22; 12-6-22; 12-5-22; and, 12-15-22, and in addition to a copy of meeting recordings. On January 26, 2023, the Fire District responded to Mr. Cyr’s request, providing a fee estimate. Objecting to the fees, Mr. Cyr petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR23/0333, was opened a s result. 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

Terie B. Fleury SPR23/0333 Page 2 March 6, 2023 Fees - Municipalities If there are any fees associated with a response a written, good faith estimate must be provided. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(viii); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2). Once fees are paid, a records custodian must provide the responsive records. 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). 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 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). The Fire District’s January 26th Fee Estimate In its January 26, 2023 fee estimate, the Fire District states, “…I have now worked on this request more than 2 hours. A good faith estimate to complete your request would be approximately 25 additional hours, at the rate of $21.00 for an estimated total amount of $525.00.” Although the Fire District states that it is assessing a $21 per hour rate, it is unclear whether the $21 per hour rate is the lowest-paid employee capable of conducting the tasks necessary to produce the requested records. The Fire District must clarify this matter. Further, the Fire District must explain how it requires 25 hours of additional time to produce the records. The Fire District should explain how much time is allocated to searching and how much time is allocated to segregating or redacting the records. Additionally, I find the Fire District must provide information about whether the responsive records contain information that is required by law to be segregated or redacted, as well as the applicable statutes, if any.

Terie B. Fleury SPR23/0333 Page 3 March 6, 2023 Modification or Narrowing of the Request It is unclear whether Mr. Cyr would like to modify or narrow the scope of his request to reduce the costs to obtain the requested records. Mr. Cyr asserts in his February 15, 2023 email to a member of my legal staff, “…It’s all invoices.” However, a review of Mr. Cyr’s January 12th request includes other categories of records, not just invoices. It is also not clear whether the Fire District can offer any suggestions for modification or narrowing of the request. I encourage the parties to continue to communicate to facilitate providing the records more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vii) (a municipality shall suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of the request or offer to assist the requestor to modify the scope of the request if doing so would enable the municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). Conclusion Accordingly, the Fire District is ordered to provide Mr. Cyr with a response to his request 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 the response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Jeffrey A. Cyr