Keith Purrier v. Mansfield, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20250763)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records March 25, 2025 SPR25/0763 Matthew Violette Assistant Town Manager Town of Mansfield 6 Park Row Mansfield, MA 02048 Dear Mr. Violette: On March 19, 2025, this office received the petition of Leo J. Peloquin, Esq., on behalf of the Town of Mansfield (Town) seeking permission to charge for time spent segregating or redacting responsive records and 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 Town furnished a copy of the petitions to the requestor, Keith Purrier. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c); G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv)(2). On March 5, 2025, Mr. Purrier requested “…a copy of the special council [sic] report regarding Dumas and Doherty.” Petition to assess fees – Municipalities The 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 or to charge in excess of $25 an hour for the provision of public 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 understanding 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

Matthew Violette SPR25/0763 Page 2 March 25, 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 $25 per hour; 2) the amount of the fee is reasonable; and 3) the fee is not designed to limit, deter or prevent access to requested public records. Id. Petitions seeking a waiver of statutory limits to fees assessed to segregate and/or redact public records must be made within ten business days after receipt of a request for public records. 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4)(g). Fee Estimates – Municipalities A municipality may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Id. A maximum fee of five cents ($.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). Petition to Assess Fees In its petition, the Town seeks to assess fees “to review and redact documents requested” and indicates that it “does not have such a Special Counsel Report. However, given its obligation to respond to a request that reasonably describes a document it has, the Town concludes that [Mr. Purrier is] requesting an Investigation Report. . . ” The Town further states, “[t]he Investigation referenced in this response was not a law enforcement misconduct investigation.” In addition to “[withholding] any information exempt from disclosure under the Attorney-Client privilege” pursuant to Exemption (a) of the Public Records Law, the Town provides the following information in support of its request to charge for segregation and redaction: [Exemption (c):] Any personnel information or information that would result in unwarranted invasion of personal privacy may be redacted from the documents

Matthew Violette SPR25/0763 Page 3 March 25, 2025 under Exemption C. The first clause of Exemption C applies to requests for personnel information. . . . [Exemption (f):] Longstanding Town of Mansfield policies based on guidelines recommended, if not required, by employment related state agencies provide that the information in employment related investigation reports should be treated confidentially. The Town policies include the following provision: “All employees are expected to cooperate in such an investigation to the extent permitted by law. Management will treat information discovered during the investigation as confidential to the extent possible.” (“confidentiality requirement”). The Town’s failure to enforce the confidentiality requirement in this Investigation would prejudice the Town. It would undercut the integrity of the investigation and provide a basis to challenge the findings in the Report. It would subject the Town to privacy-related claims by those individuals who were named and/or provided information to the Investigator after being assured that the investigation was confidential. It would affect the Town’s ability to conduct further investigations because a complainant, the subject of the complaint and any other individuals asked to provide information would be unwilling to cooperate out of concern that the investigation report would not be kept confidential. This would compromise the Town’s ability to investigate and try to resolve a complaint locally, which reduces the likelihood that the complaint will result in costly litigation. In light of the Town’s petition, I find the Town has met its burden to explain how given the nature of the responsive records, the request could not prudently be completed without segregation or redaction. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). To the extent the responsive records contain the exempt information as described above, the Town may assess a fee for the segregation and redaction of such exempt material. Fee in Excess of $25.00 per Hour In its petition, the Town “requests to charge Mr. Purrier $75/hour for the work” and provides the following in support of its request: As stated in the initial response, as the Town’s attorney, NMP attorneys are the lowest paid individuals working for the Town with the ability to determine whether the exemptions set forth in the initial response apply to allow the redaction of information from the documents and to do the redactions. For all of its Special Counsel services to the Town, NMP charges its municipal rate of $235/hour. . . . The charge would only partially pay for what it is costing the Town for doing the work. In light of the Town’s petition, I find the Town has partially met its burden to explain how, given the nature of the responsive records, the request could not prudently be completed

Matthew Violette SPR25/0763 Page 4 March 25, 2025 without assessing a fee in excess of $25.00 per hour. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). The Town may assess an hourly rate limited to $75.00 for attorney review for segregation and redaction under the attorney-client privilege. However, the Town may not assess a fee in excess of $25.00 per hour for other tasks. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii). Conclusion Accordingly, to the extent the responsive records contain the exempt information as described above, the Town may assess a fee for segregation and redaction. Further, while the Town may assess a fee limited to the hourly rate of $75.00 for attorney review, the Town may not assess a fee in excess of $25.00 for other tasks. This office encourages Mr. Purrier and the Town to continue to communicate directly in order to facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vii). Any subsequent fee estimate from the Town must be made in compliance with G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(viii) and G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii). Please note, Mr. Purrier 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, §§ 10A(c). Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Keith Purrier