Commonwealth Transparency v. Bridgewater, Town of - Office of the Town Manager (SPR 20250326)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records February 13, 2025 SPR25/0326 Blythe Robinson Acting Town Manager Town of Bridgewater 66 Central Square Bridgewater, MA 02324 Dear Ms. Robinson: I have received the petition of Commonwealth Transparency (“requestor”) appealing the response of the Town of Bridgewater (Town) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On February 1, 2025, the requestor sought the following records for the period of October 20, 2024 through December 10, 2024: [a]ny letter, electronic communication, and/or message including but not limited to written documents, emails (Electronic mail), text messages, collaboration messages from platforms like teams, WhatsApp, and Git; Where the subject matter is The Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ Emergency Shelter Policy, specifically, but not limited to Statement(s) on “Changes to the State’s Emergency Shelter Policy.” The Town provided a response on February 3, 2025. Unsatisfied with the Town’s response, the requestor petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR25/0326, 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 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

Blythe Robinsons SPR25/0326 Page 2 February 13, 2025 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, 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 Town’s February 3rd response In its February 3, 2024 response, the Town provided a fee estimate of $50.00 and stated, “the total reasonable fee of $50.00 will be charged, this includes 2 hours of work at no charge.” Although the Town has estimated that the process of compiling, reviewing, and preparing requested records requires 4 hours to produce responsive records, it is not clear from the Town’s estimate how much time is allocated to search, and how much time is allocated for segregation and/or redaction of the records. Further, the Town must provide additional information regarding the tasks involved in producing these records. Additionally, the Town’s fee estimate lacks confirmation that the rate of $25 per hour is of the lowest paid employee who is capable of performing the task(s). Accordingly, the Town must provide further details regarding its fee estimate. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv) (requiring the amount of the fee be reasonable). I encourage the requestor and the Town to communicate in order to facilitate producing records efficiently and affordably. The requestor may wish to narrow the parameters or include factors to enable the search to be processed. G. L. c. 66, § l0(a)(i). The Town must use its knowledge of the records to facilitate providing any responsive records. G. L. c. 66, § l0(a)(vii) (an agency or municipality 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 agency or municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). Conclusion Accordingly, the Town 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 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.

Blythe Robinsons SPR25/0326 Page 3 February 13, 2025 Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Commonwealth Transparency