Roxanne Gunther v. Monson, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20240374)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records February 20, 2024 SPR24/0374 Mary F. Watson Town Clerk/Records Access Officer Town of Monson 110 Main Street Monson, MA 01057 Dear Ms. Watson: I have received the petition of Roxanne Gunther appealing the response of the Town of Monson (Town) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On January 24, 2024, Ms. Gunther requested a copy of the executive session minutes and also the recordings of the meetings which occurred in October and November of 2023. Unsatisfied with the Town’s January 26th response, closing her request for executive session minutes and any recordings, Ms. Gunther petitioned the Supervisor of Records for this appeal, and as a result, this appeal was opened. In her February 5, 2024 petition for this appeal, Ms. Gunther asserts, “…I made a Public Record [R]equest for [E]xecutive [S]essions and recordings if available and was told that they were not available as they had not received the fully executed contracts and that once they were, the Select Board would need to review for release of the minutes. The contracts were finally sent to me today … the [Select Board] voted to approve those executive session on October 24, 2023 and November 14, 2023.” Open Meeting Law In an email on February 20, 2024, Ms. Watson informed this office that she received the following email from the Chair of the Town’s Select Board stating, “I anticipate that the vote to release the public records related to the Executive Sessions on the dates listed [in Ms. Gunther’s request] will be on the agenda for the Select Board's 2/27/24 meeting.” Based on the Town’s response and Ms. Gunther’s appeal, this matter raises issues related to the Open Meeting Law, rather than the Public Records Law. See G. L. c. 30A, § 22(f). Given that an interpretation of the Open Meeting Law falls within the authority of the 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

Mary F. Watson SPR24/0374 Page 2 February 20, 2024 Office of the Attorney General (AGO) and not this office, I decline to address those issues in this determination. See G. L. c. 30A, § 23. If unresolved issues remain, I encourage the parties to -- contact the AGO for a determination on the status of the executive session minutes and any other documents pertaining to the executive session minutes. Accordingly, I will now consider this administrative appeal closed. Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Roxanne Gunther