Walt Thompson v. Newburyport, City of - Office of the City Clerk (SPR 20250387)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records February 24, 2025 SPR25/0387 J.T. Chamberlain City Clerk’s Office City of Newburyport 60 Pleasant Street Newburyport, MA 01950 Dear J.T. Chamberlain: I have received the petition of Walt Thompson appealing the response of the City of Newburyport (City) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On January 23, 2025, Mr. Thompson modified the scope of an earlier January 13, 2025 request, and sought the following: Today, for now, I will limit my request to items 1 and 2 below. 1. **Materials Purchased**: A detailed list of all materials (books, periodicals, digital media, etc.) purchased by the library in 2024. 2. **Materials Disposed**: A detailed list of all materials disposed of or removed from the library’s collection in 2024. 1…by author and title. 2…by author and title and where they went after being removed from the library. [sic] Previous Appeal This request was the subject of a previous appeal. See SPR25/0202 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (February 5, 2025). In my February 5th determination, I found that given the modifications to Mr. Thompson’s original January 13th request, it was unnecessary to address the issues raised in his appeal at that time. Subsequently, the City responded to his modified request on February 7, 2025. Unsatisfied with the City’s response, Mr. Thompson petitioned this office, and this appeal, SPR25/0387, was opened as a result. 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

J.T. Chamberlain SPR25/0387 Page 2 February 24, 2025 The Public Records Law The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A(d); 950 C.M.R. 32.03(4). “Public records” is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any agency or municipality of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. 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. The City’s February 7th Response In its February 7, 2025 response, the City explains the following: Mr. Thompson’s modified request does not change the amount of time it would take to fulfill the request. Mr. Thompson’s modified request will take 16 hours to complete. Item 1: complete listing of items purchased in 2024: The only listing of our purchases is on our itemized invoices. If he wants to know what we purchased from January 1 2024 through December 31, 2024, we will have to scan the itemized invoices. We purchase thousands of borrowable items a year. We don’t keep a running list. The itemized invoices are the only way he can get a listing of the items we purchased. Breakdown of time to complete the request: Gather all the invoices from our storage room in basement 5-6 hours Make sure they are in date order 1-2 hours Verify the invoices fit the scope of the request 1-2 hours Copy all the invoices 1-2 hours Redact all the vendor and financial account information 4-5 hours Scan all the invoices 1-2 hours Save the scans to a flash drive for delivery 1 hour Item 2: list of item withdrawn from the Library collection: The only library

J.T. Chamberlain SPR25/0387 Page 3 February 24, 2025 department that maintains a record of items that are withdrawn from the collection is the Archival Center. The information does not include where the items go after they are withdrawn. Let me know how you would like to proceed Walt and I can coordinate with the Library for you. Current Appeal In his appeal petition, Mr. Thompson contends that “the city of Newburyport is intentionally making it difficult to obtain public information.” He further contends “that the Newburyport Public Library has and is acquiring and disposing of books and other public materials in a process detrimental to our community. Specifically, the unwarranted removals of historical documents, books, media and other materials.” He also raises numerous concerns about the Library’s “purchases, disposals or destinations of disposed materials.” Please note that in its response, the City has not denied Mr. Thompson any access to records, but is seeking clarification regarding the scope of his request. Please be advised that it is valid for the custodian of records to 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.” See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vii). Given the expansiveness of his request, and the information provided by the City regarding its records, Mr. Thompson is encouraged to provide the City with the needed clarification regarding the records referenced in the City’s response. G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(i) (the request must reasonably describe the public records sought). In accordance with the Public Records Law, custodians are expected to use their superior knowledge of the records in their custody to assist requestors in obtaining the desired information. See 950 C.M.R. 32.04(5). The duty to comply with requests for records extends to those records that exist and are in the possession, custody, or control of the custodian of records at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(ii), (b)(ii). In this case, the City has used its knowledge of the records in order to provide an estimate of the amount of time it will take to comply with Mr. Thompson’s request. This office encourages Mr. Thompson and the City to communicate directly in order to facilitate producing records more efficiently and affordably. Mr. Thompson may consider further narrowing the scope of his request to enable the City to provide the records more efficiently and affordably. The City must use its superior knowledge of the records to suggest any potential further reasonable modifications to the request. G. L. c. 66, § l0(a)(vii) (a 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 municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably).

J.T. Chamberlain SPR25/0387 Page 4 February 24, 2025 Conclusion Accordingly, I will consider this administrative appeal closed. If issues remain after further communication, Mr. Thompson may file a new appeal. Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Walt Thompson