Commonwealth Transparency v. Lynn, City of - Office of the City Solicitor (SPR 20250445)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records February 19, 2025 SPR24/0445 James Lamanna, Esq. City Solicitor City of Lynn, Law Department 3 City Hall Square, Room 406 Lynn, MA 01901 Dear Attorney Lamanna: On February 14, 2025, this office received your petition on behalf of the City of Lynn (City) seeking an extension of time to produce records. 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 City furnished a copy of the petition to the requestor, Open Commonwealth (requestor). G. L. c. 66, § 10(c); G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv)(2). 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.” Petition for an Extension of Time Under the Public Records Law, upon a showing of good cause, the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may grant a single extension to an agency not to exceed 20 business days and a single extension to a municipality not to exceed 30 business days. In determining whether there has been a showing of good cause, the Supervisor shall consider, but shall not be limited to considering: (i) the need to search for, collect, segregate or examine records; (ii) the scope of redaction required to prevent unlawful disclosure; (iii) the capacity or the normal business hours of operation of the agency or municipality to produce the request without the extension; 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

James Lamanna, Esq. SPR25/0445 Page 2 February 19, 2025 (iv) efforts undertaken by the agency or municipality in fulfilling the current request and previous requests; (v) whether the request, either individually or as part of a series of requests from the same requestor, is frivolous or intended to harass or intimidate the agency or municipality; and (vi) the public interest served by expeditious disclosure. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). If the Supervisor determines that the request is part of a series of contemporaneous requests that are frivolous or designed to intimidate or harass, and the requests are not intended for the broad dissemination of information to the public about actual or alleged government activity, the Supervisor may grant a longer extension or relieve the agency or municipality of its obligation to provide copies of the records sought. Id. The filing of a petition does not affect the requirement that a Records Access Officer (RAO) must provide an initial response to a requestor within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 36.06(4)(b). Current Petition In its petition, the City requests an extension of 10 business days and argues the following in support of its request: The request seeks copies of specific emails sent to any and all City of Lynn officials. The City of Lynn has a contractual arrangement to store all of these emails of its agents, servants and employees with a third party vendor Thrive. Thrive employees are presently conducting a search for these emails on behalf of the City of Lynn using certain “keywords.” The chosen “keywords” have produced emails and documents that are not related to this request and are therefore unresponsive. The search is on-going. The City has been advised that this diligent search of thousands of emails can be completed within ten business days of the date of this request for an extension of time. No employee, agent or servant of the City has the ability to search through these stored emails other than the third party vendor who has access to the device upon which these emails are stored. Conclusion Based on the information provided in the City’s February 14th petition, I find it is unnecessary to opine on the City’s extension request. In this case, the City intends to provide responsive records within twenty five (25) business days of the receipt of the request, as allowed in G. L. c. 66 § 10(b)(vi). See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vi) (records access officer may identify a reasonable timeframe for producing records not to exceed 25 business days following initial receipt of the request).

James Lamanna, Esq. SPR25/0445 Page 3 February 19, 2025 Please note, the requestor has the right to seek judicial review of this decision by commencing a civil action in the appropriate superior court. See G. L. c. 66, §§ 10(c), 10(d)(iv)(4), 10A(c). Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Open Commonwealth