Commonwealth Transparency v. Westford, City of - Public Schools (SPR 20241089)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records April 25, 2024 SPR24/1089 Laurie Shaw Records Access Officer Westford Public Schools 23 Depot Street Westford, MA 01886 Dear Ms. Shaw: I have received the petition of Open Commonwealth (“requestor”) appealing the response of the Westford Public Schools (School/District) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On March 27, 2024, the requestor sought “[a]ll invoices paid to any legal service provider for the time period, January 1, 2019 – March 26, 2024.” On April 11, 2024, the School responded, providing a fee estimate. Unsatisfied with the School’s response, the requestor petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR24/1089, was opened as a result. Fees Estimates - 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 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 rate attributed to the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to search for, 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

Laurie Shaw SPR24/1089 Page 2 April 25, 2024 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 how if such rate is approved by the Supervisor of Records under a petition under G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). 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). The School’s April 11th response In its April 11, 2024 response, the School provided a fee estimate of $1,600 and stated the following: As [the requestor is] requesting over five (5) years of monthly invoices, all of which will require individual review for legally required redactions, the District will be imposing a fee to respond to this request. Responsive documents are expected to contain information that is exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Law. Specifically, personally identifiable information regarding students of the District will be redact pursuant to [Exemption (a)]… Documents that contain medical, personnel, or other information relating to a specifically named individual, the disclosure of which may constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, will be redacted pursuant to [Exemption (c)]… The District anticipates that responding to this request will require approximately 65 hours of employee time. This estimate is based on two (2) hours of search time for monthly invoices extending back over five years, coming from more than one law firm, and 63 hours of segregation and redaction time, to ensure that the legally required redactions are completed. Please note that all time would be billed at an hourly rate of $25.00. Excluding the first two hours of work… this would result in a fee of $1,600 (63 hours x $25/hour). Current Appeal In the appeal petition, the requestor states, “OpenCommonwealth appeals this response as untimely.” G. L. c. 66, § 10(e) G. L. c. 66, § 10(e) provides that “[a] records access officer shall not charge a fee for a public record unless the records access officer responded to the requestor within 10 business days under subsection (b).” In this case, where the requestor submitted the request on March 27, 2024, and the School provided a response on April 11, 2024, I find it is unclear whether the School complied with G. L. c. 66, § 10(e). Specifically, the School must demonstrate

Laurie Shaw SPR24/1089 Page 3 April 25, 2024 whether it provided a response to the requestor under G. L. c. 66, § 10(b) within 10 business days of receipt of the request. Conclusion Accordingly, the School is ordered to provide the requestor with a response to the request, 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 the response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma.us. Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Open Commonwealth