Malden News Network v. Department of Revenue (SPR 20242346)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records August 30, 2024 SPR24/2346 Roger H. Randall, Esq. Counsel to the Commissioner Department of Revenue 100 Cambridge Street Boston, MA 02114 Dear Attorney Randall: I have received the petition of Malden News Network (“requestor”) appealing the response of the Department of Revenue (Department) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On August 1, 2024, the requestor sought the following: . . . emails for each of the calendar years 2013-2024 . . . related to the City of Malden which were created or received by any member of the following three bureaus of DLS: Bureau of Accounts, Bureau of Municipal Finance Law, Financial Management Resource Bureau. We seek all such emails, including all file attachments and metadata, whether such emails had been archived or in any other way deleted after their initial creation or receipt. . . . which meet the following criteria: [a.] [S]ent from or received by any account in the [identified email domain] by any email account in [an identified email domain] (or from any other individual known to represent the City of Malden, initiating contact from any other domain)[;] [b] [I]ncluding any of the following phrases (in singular or plural forms and any combination of capitalization): “general fund”, “free cash”, “free cash certification”, “appropriated”, “appropriation”, “reserve”, “special law” or “exception”, “impact fees”, “casino”, “special legislation”, “surrounding community”, or “special revenue fund”. . . [;] [c.] [E]xcluding any email or documents identifiably related to currently active legal proceedings or investigations[.] On the same day, the Department acknowledged the request and advised the requestor to modify the scope of the request. Subsequently, the requestor modified the request as follows: 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

Roger H. Randall, Esq. SPR24/2346 Page 2 August 30, 2024 . . . emails for the following time period: 6/15/19 to 9/15/19 . . . related to the City of Malden, which were created or received by any member of the following TWO bureaus of DLS: Bureau of Accounts [and] Bureau of Municipal Finance Law[.] We seek all such emails, including attachments and all related metadata, whether such emails had been archived or in any way deleted after their initial creation or receipt. To limit the search and narrow the criteria further we seek only those emails: [a.] [S]ent from or received by any account in the [identified email domain] by any email account in [an identified email domain] (or from any other individual known to represent the City of Malden, initiating contact from any other domain)[;] [b.] [I]ncluding any of the following phrases (in singular or plural forms and any combination of capitalization): “general fund”, “free cash”, “free cash certification”, “appropriated”, “appropriation”, “reserve”, “special law” or “exception”, “impact fees”, “casino”, “special legislation”, “surrounding community”, or “special revenue fund”[;] [c.] [E]xcluding any email or documents identifiably related to currently active legal proceedings or investigations[.] Having received no records, the requestor petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR24/2346, was opened as a result. Subsequent to the opening of this appeal, I learned that the Department provided a supplemental response by email to the requestor and this office on August 29, 2024. Accordingly, I will now consider this administrative appeal closed. If unresolved issues remain, the requestor may further appeal the substantive nature of the Department’s August 29th response within ninety (90) days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Malden News Network