Russ Williston v. Lancaster, Town of (SPR 20231644)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records August 1, 2023 SPR23/1644 Kathleen Rocco Executive Assistant Town of Lancaster Office of the Town Administrator 701 Main Street, Suite 1 Lancaster, MA 01523 Dear Ms. Rocco: I have received the petition of Russ Williston appealing the responses of the Town of Lancaster (Town) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On May 31, 2023, Mr. Williston stated, “I’m interested in requesting information on the approved FY2023 tax abatements, but I am not familiar with what’s available in Lancaster. What’s the most practical thing to request to get a list of the approved FY2023 abatements? (Is a spreadsheet available?)” On June 9 and June 17, 2023, the Town responded. Unsatisfied with the Town’s responses, Mr. Williston petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR23/1644, 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). 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. Att’y 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 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

Kathleen Rocco SPR23/1644 Page 2 August 1, 2023 must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. 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. The Town’s June 9th and June 17th Responses In its June 9, 2023 response, the Town states: Your request fails to reasonably describe the records sought and places the burden on the Town’s administrative staff to determine what constitutes “information” and which documents or data point are sufficient “information” to necessitate production. The Court in Chawla v. Dep’t of Revenue, Suffolk. Sup. No. 1784CV02087, at 2 (January 23, 2019), found that under the Public Records Law “[t]he reasonable description requirement contemplates that a requesting party will identify documents or categories of documents with sufficient particularity that government employees will be able to understand exactly what they are looking for, and then make a prompt production.” The court further indicated “[r]equests for documents that are articulated with very broad language that calls upon non-lawyer administrative personnel to interpret the scope of what is sought, and then make fine judgments about what documents are and are not sufficiently ‘related’ to the category of materials requested, will not satisfy this statutory standard.” Id. (emphasis in original). In order for the Town to properly respond to your request, we ask that you specify what data, documents or tables you seek which would provide “information” relative to your request. Once you have that information, you can forward your request, in writing, to one of the Town’s records officers. In its June 17, 2023 response, the Town states: As was the case with your May 31, 2023, question, the Town is not clear what, specifically, you are asking for as you have not defined which records or files you seek to access. It appears you are looking for someone in the Assessor’s Office to inform you what files are available, and that request is overly broad and unnecessarily burdensome to Town staff. Furthermore, the files maintained by the Assessor’s Office are large in both substance and volume and much of the information contained within the files is not subject to public disclosure. Lastly, the Massachusetts General Law you cited, Chapter 49, relates to Fencing, Fence Viewers, Pounds & Field Drivers and does not contain a Chapter 60. At this time, your request fails to reasonably describe the records sought and places the burden on the Town’s administrative staff to determine what

Kathleen Rocco SPR23/1644 Page 3 August 1, 2023 constitutes “report, spreadsheet, etc.” and which documents or data points are sufficient information to necessitate production. . . . For the Town to properly respond to your request, you will need to specify what documents, data tables and/or spreadsheets you are requesting and what ‘information’ you seek. Should you choose to respond with more specificity, you may forward a new request, in writing, to one of the Town’s records officers. Once received, the Town will respond with an appropriate estimate of time and costs, if any, within the statutorily required timeframe. In a response to the Town on July 17, 2023, Mr. Williston states: MGL Chapter 49 Section 60 requires that a very specific set of records be maintained about abatements, and available for public inspection. It requires the assessor to furnish a copy of it, on request, to anyone who requests it. I am requesting a copy of what was maintained for the FY2023 abatements. See the excerpt from that section below. The records which boards of assessor are required to keep pursuant to this section shall be kept, in the order in which such abatements of taxes are granted, in a book or set of books provided for the purpose and in such form as the commissioner may prescribe. Such book or books, or copies thereof, shall be open to public inspection. Every board of assessors shall at the request of any person furnish one or more copies of ay record required by this section to be kept, upon the payment in advance of a fee approximating the cost of such copy or copies. Based on Mr. Williston’s email dated July 17, 2023, it appears he is requesting records referenced in G. L. c. 59, § 60. It is unclear if the Town possesses records responsive to the request. The duty to comply with requests for records extends to those records that exist and are in the possession, custody, or control of the custodian of records at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(ii). To the extent that records exist, I find the Town must provide them in a manner consistent with the Public Records Law or identify an exemption that applies to withhold the records from disclosure. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b). See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a) (records must be provided without unreasonable delay). This office encourages Mr. Williston and the Town to continue to communicate to facilitate providing 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 agency to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). Conclusion Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide Mr. Williston with a response to the request,

Kathleen Rocco SPR23/1644 Page 4 August 1, 2023 provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within ten 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. Mr. Williston may appeal the substantive nature of the Town’s response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Russ Williston