Todd Wallack v. Northampton, City of - Police Department (SPR 20241637)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records June 6, 2024 SPR24/1637 Jennifer DiCarlo Records Division Assistant Northampton Police Department 29 Center Street Northampton, MA 01060 Dear Ms. DiCarlo: On May 31, 2024, this office received your petition on behalf of the Northampton Police Department (Department) seeking an extension of time to produce records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). As required by law, it is my understanding that the Department furnished a copy of the petition to the requestor, Todd Wallack, of WBUR. Id. On May 17, 2024, Mr. Wallack, requested, “[a] copy of [the Department’s] log of public records requests since Jan. 1, 2019.” In making his request, Mr. Wallack indicated that if the Department’s “log is only readily available for a more recent period, please provide the log for that more recent period instead.” Please note, in an email to this office and the Department on June 3, 2024, Mr. Wallack opposed the Department’s petition. 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; 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

Jennifer DiCarlo SPR24/1637 Page 2 June 6, 2024 (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). 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 its petition, the Department requests “an extension of 30 business days to respond to Mr. Wallack’s request.” In support of its petition, the Department states: Given the volume of the requested records, the undue burden this request will place on the Records Bureau, and the need to search, segregate and redact these records where required by law and where the privacy interests of involved parties outweighs the public interest, the 10 business days allowed by law is not a reasonable amount of time to produce the responsive records in our possession.... Aside from the time required to search, segregate, and redact the logs, we will also need to re-size and format them in such a way as to make them less cumbersome to share, and hopefully get all of the columns on one page. Currently, as the dissemination log is only used by members of the Records Bureau, and only shared with the City Clerk as required, we do not worry about size or formatting, as it is not relevant to our daily duties. Each year of logs is its own workbook, and each month is its own sheet within the workbook. This means there will be roughly 65 sheets that need to be resized and formatted, which in itself is a time-consuming task. In light of the need to collect and segregate the records, as well as the capacity of the Department to produce the records without an extension, the Department has established good cause to permit an extension of time. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c)(i)-(iii). The Department is granted an extension of 30 business days.

Jennifer DiCarlo SPR24/1637 Page 3 June 6, 2024 Conclusion As described above, I find that the Department has established good cause for a time extension of 30 business days. Please note, Mr. Wallack 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(c), 10(d)(iv)(4), 10A(c). Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Todd Wallack