John Hilliard v. Everett, City of - Public Schools (SPR 20241701)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records June 21, 2024 SPR24/1701 David O’Connor Records Access Officer Everett School Department 121 Vine Street Everett, MA 02149 Dear Mr. O’Connor: I have received the petition of John Hilliard, of the Boston Globe, appealing the response of the Everett Public Schools (School) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On May 23, 2024, Mr. Hilliard requested the following records: [1] Resumes for any current success coaches, hall monitors, matrons, or porters[;] [2] Fiscal 2023 employee payroll[;] [3] Fiscal 2024 year-to-date employee payroll including eleven identified categories[.] The School provided a fee estimate on June 6, 2024. Unsatisfied with the response, Mr. Hilliard petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR24/1701, was opened as a result. Fees - 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 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

David O’Connor SPR24/1701 Page 2 June 21, 2024 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, 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). The School’s June 6th Fee Estimate In its June 6, 2024 response, the School stated, “[b]ased on your request, we have estimated the effort involved in order to create a response. As this is more than minimum effort by public records law, we have created an estimated effort and related cost which is shown below:” Department Estimated Hours Hourly Rate Estimated Personnel Cost School Department 4.00 $25.00 $100.00 Although the School has estimated that the process of compiling, reviewing, and preparing responsive documents for production will take 4 hours of employee time, it is unclear how the School requires this amount of time to produce responsive records. It is unclear how many hours are for search and how many hours are for segregation and redaction. It is also not clear what tasks are involved to prepare responsive records for production. As such, the School must provide further details regarding its fee estimate. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv) (requiring the amount of the fee be reasonable). In addition, the School must confirm that $25.00 is the hourly rate attributed to the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce a record requested. Further, the School must clarify if it deducted the first two hours pursuant to 950 C.M.R. 32.07(m) (a municipal records access officer shall not assess a fee for the first two hours of time spent searching for, compiling, segregating, redacting and reproducing a requested record in a municipality with a population of over 20,000). For the reasons discussed above, I find the School must revise its fee estimate or provide further explanation of how the fee assessed is expressly provided for and consistent with G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). Conclusion Accordingly, the School is ordered to provide Mr. Hilliard with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law, and its Regulations within 10 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.

David O’Connor SPR24/1701 Page 3 June 21, 2024 Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: John Hilliard