Kendall Lamb v. Norwood, Town of - Police Department (SPR 20250208)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records January 29, 2025 SPR25/0208 Mario Costa Records Access Officer Norwood Police Department 137 Nahatan Street Norwood, MA 02062 Dear Mr. Costa: On January 23, 2025, this office received your petition on behalf of the Norwood Police Department (Department) seeking a waiver of statutory limits on fees that may be assessed in responding to the request. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c); G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). As required by law, it is my understanding that the Department furnished a copy of the petition to the requestor, Kendall Lamb. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c); G. L.c. 66, § 10(d)(iv)(2). On January 15, 2025, Mr. Lamb requested, “the First and last names as well as the Identification numbers of the 2 officers pictured.” Petition to Assess Fees – Municipalities The Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may approve a petition from a municipality to charge for time spent segregating or redacting or to charge in excess of $25 per hour, if the Supervisor determines that 1) the request is for a commercial purpose or 2) the fee represents an actual and good faith representation by the municipality to comply with the request. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). In rendering such a decision, the Supervisor is required to consider the following: a) the public interest served by limiting the cost of public access to the records; b) the financial ability of the requestor to pay the additional or increased fees; and c) any other relevant extenuating circumstances. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). The statute sets out a two-prong test for determining whether the Supervisor may approve a municipality’s petition to allow the municipality to charge for time spent segregating or redacting records. The first prong is whether the request for records was made for a commercial purpose. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). It is my determination that this request was not made for a commercial purpose. 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

Officer Mario Costa SPR25/0208 Page 2 January 29, 2025 The second prong of the test is whether the fee represents an actual and good faith representation by the municipality to comply with the request. The Supervisor must consider 1) if the fee is necessary such that the request could not have been prudently completed without the redaction or segregation or fee in excess of $25 per hour; 2) the amount of the fee is reasonable; and 3) the fee is not designed to limit, deter or prevent access to requested public records. Id. Fee Estimates – Municipalities A municipality may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Id. A maximum fee of five cents ($.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 2 (two) 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, 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 hour 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). Current Petition In its petition, the Department requests to charge for segregation and redaction in excess of $25 per hour. In support of its request, the Department provides the following information concerning anticipated redactions: These files are confidential and maintained separately from other files within the department. Given the sensitive nature of some of these files, department policy specifically requires that these files be maintained in a secure environment, separate from other records. Further Detective Lieutenant … is the lowest paid employee with access to these confidential records who can perform the task required for this public records request as he is in charge of The Internal Affairs Division as part of his duties as Investigations Commander for the Norwood Police Department. I find the Department has not met its burden to explain how the request could not prudently be completed without assessing a fee in excess of $25 per hour. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv).

Officer Mario Costa SPR25/0208 Page 3 January 29, 2025 Conclusion Consequently, I find that the Department has not met its burden to assess fees in excess of $25.00. Further, this office encourages Mr. Lamb and the Department to continue to communicate to facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vii) (a municipality or agency shall suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of the request or offer to assist the requestor to modify the scope of the request if doing so would enable the municipality or agency to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Kendall Lamb