Devlin Marie Selman v. Conway, Town of - Office of the Town Administrator (SPR 20230537)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records March 28, 2023 SPR23/0537 Véronique Blanchard Town Administrator Town of Conway 32 Main Street P. O. Box 240 Conway, MA 01341 Dear Ms. Blanchard: I have received your petition on behalf of the Town of Conway (Town) seeking an extension of time to produce records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). As required by law, it is my understanding that the Town furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor, Devlin Marie Selman. Id. On March 8, 2023, Devlin Marie Selman requested, “…all correspondences between the Town of Conway and Nexamp Solar from January 2019 to March 2023.” Petition for an Extension of Time Under the Public Records Law, upon a showing of good cause, the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may grant a single extension to an agency not to exceed 20 business days and a single extension to a municipality not to exceed 30 business days. In determining whether there has been a showing of good cause, the Supervisor shall consider, but shall not be limited to considering: (i) the need to search for, collect, segregate or examine records; (ii) the scope of redaction required to prevent unlawful disclosure; (iii) the capacity or the normal business hours of operation of the agency or municipality to produce the request without the extension; (iv) efforts undertaken by the agency or municipality in fulfilling the current request and previous requests; (v) whether the request, either individually or as part of a series of requests from the same requestor, is frivolous or intended to harass or intimidate the agency or municipality; and (vi) the public interest served by expeditious disclosure. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). 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

Véronique Blanchard SPR23/0537 Page 2 March 28, 2023 If the Supervisor determines that the request is part of a series of contemporaneous requests that are frivolous or designed to intimidate or harass, and the requests are not intended for the broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government activity, the Supervisor may grant a longer extension or relieve the agency or municipality of its obligation to provide copies of the records sought. Id. The filing of a petition does not affect the requirement that a Records Access Officer (RAO) must provide an initial response to a requestor within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b). Current Petition In an email dated March 16, 2023, the Town stated, “[b]ecause of both the recent storm outages and the fact that some volunteers on several of the affected committees will need to help gather this information, the town would like to request a two-week extension for this public records information request.” Further, in a letter dated March 21, 2023, the Town clarifies that it seeks an extension of 30 business days to produce records. The Town states the following in support of its petition, “the number of records is in the many hundreds, if not thousands, and spans many departments such as the Planning Board, Town Administrator, Conservation Commission, Treasurer, etc. We are a small town with part time staff and volunteers, and the time required by each staff member or volunteer to review and redact (if necessary) these records will be great.” I find that in light of the capacity of the Town to produce the request without the extension, as well as efforts undertaken by the Town in fulfilling the current request, the Town has established good cause to permit an extension of time. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(c)(i)-(iv). I hereby grant the Town an extension of 30 business days to furnish copies of records responsive to Devlin Marie Selman’s request. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). Conclusion I find the Town has established good cause to permit an extension of time of 30 business days as discussed above. Please note, Devlin Marie Selman has the right to seek judicial review of this decision by commencing a civil action in the appropriate superior court. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv)(4), 10A(c).

Véronique Blanchard SPR23/0537 Page 3 March 28, 2023 Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Devlin Marie Selman