Laura H. Ortiz v. Lynn, City of - Office of the City Solicitor (SPR 20250446)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records February 21, 2025 SPR25/0446 James P. Lamanna, Esq. Assistant City Solicitor City of Lynn 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, Laura Ortiz. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c); G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv)(2). On February 1, 2025, Ms. Ortiz requested the following records between December 12, 2024-December 14, 2024 and August 8, 2024: ...[p]ublic records related to the “Shelter Advocacy Letter” with 39 other municipalities from across the state and more than 100 local public body member officials that multiple Lynn City Councilors corresponded over. [We] seek specifically, copy of any emails to/from/cc/bcc Worcester City Councilor . . . or Worcester City Councilor . . . or Salem City Councilor . . . and with the following Lynn City Councilors [multiple identified individuals]... 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 P. Lamanna, Esq. SPR25/0446 Page 2 February 21, 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 time up to including the close of business on March 3, 2025 (the 10th business day from the date of this request)” and provides the following information in support of its request: [T]he request seeks copies of emails sent to City of Lynn officials. The City of Lynn has a contractual agreement 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. [N]o 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. In an email to this Division on February 14, 2025, Ms. Ortiz objects to the City’s petition seeking an extension of time, arguing “...[c]ity of Lynn emailed their request for extension of time to the wrong email address, pre@sec.state.ma.us, at Secretary of State Public Records Division instead of the required petition email address of rao.petitions@sec.state.ma.us. [T]he City of Lynn is using the wrong methods to produce the records and failing to simply search for what we asked for, within our parameters. The City of Lynn is misrepresenting its search and instead increasing a scope instead of the very narrow scope we requested. This request was only

James P. Lamanna, Esq. SPR25/0446 Page 3 February 21, 2025 for 3 people named [multiple identified individuals] and for 4 dates, December 12, 2024, December 13, 2024, December 14, 2024, and August 8, 2024.” Conclusion In light of the above, I find it is unnecessary to opine on the City’s petition for an extension of time. Specifically, the City intends to provide responsive records within twenty-five (25) business days of the receipt of the request as allowed under G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vi). The City is advised that it must seek a petition for an extension of time if it cannot provide responsive records within (25) business days of the receipt of the request. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c). Please note, Ms. Ortiz 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: Laura Ortiz