Mary Dormer v. Carver, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20240967)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records April 11, 2024 SPR24/0967 Michelle Sheehan Town Clerk Town of Carver 108 Main Street Carver, MA 02330 Dear Ms. Sheehan: I have received the petition of Mary Dormer appealing the response of the Town of Carver (Town) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On December 7, 2023, Ms. Dormer requested “all correspondence between SLT (which includes the owner and any employee or representative of the Company), RBBP, ERC and the Finance Committee in the last year.” Previous Appeals This request was the subject of previous appeals. See SPR24/0127 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (January 25, 2024); SPR24/0303 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (February 14, 2024); and SPR24/0635 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (March 13, 2024). In my March 13th determination, I found that it was unclear if the Town possessed additional records responsive to the request. The Town responded on March 14, 2024. Unsatisfied with the response, Ms. Dormer appealed and this case, SPR24/0967, 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 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

Michelle Sheehan SPR24/0967 Page 2 April 11, 2024 order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney 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 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 March 14th Response In its March 14, 2024 response, the Town stated, “[t]he Town would like to clarify that the estimate given was over $500.00 due to the amount of time it took to search and segregate the records requested and not due to how many actual records exist. If you look at the breakdown of the estimate, you can see the large part of the estimate is based on search and segregation time… You will see a large portion of the estimate is not for actual documents but rather time spent searching for and segregating the specific documents you had requested.” Current Appeal In her appeal, Ms. Dormer states, “I received one letter from SLT, no information from the RBBP, ERC and/or the Finance Committee in the last year… I am aware that there are several meetings from all of those committees that discuss communicating with SLT in the form of the letter. Additionally, if the Town searched through 500-800 documents that deal with SLT, then those are the documents that the Town should be providing me with. The Town of Carver separates each individual project by the builder/requesters name, therefore those 500-800 pages deal specifically with SLT.” Possession, Custody, or Control The Town is advised that 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). Further, in accordance with the Public Records Law, custodians are expected to use their superior knowledge of the records in their custody to assist requestors in obtaining the desired information. See 950 C.M.R. 32.04(5). Based on Ms. Dormer’s appeal, it is unclear whether the Town possesses additional records responsive to Ms. Dormer’s request. The Town must clarify this. Conclusion Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide Ms. Dormer with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations

Michelle Sheehan SPR24/0967 Page 3 April 11, 2024 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 the response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Mary Dormer Shelby Roy