Joanne Kane v. Westfield, City of - Gas and Electric Department (SPR 20251480)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records May 30, 2025 SPR25/1480 Robin Krok Records Administration Officer Westfield Gas & Electric Light Department 40 Turnpike Industrial Road Westfield, MA 01086-0990 Dear Ms. Krok: I have received the petition of Joanne Kane appealing the response of the Westfield Gas & Electric Light Department (Department) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On May 14, 2025, Ms. Kane requested the following records: [1] A list of all law firms and attorneys that have provided legal services to Westfield Gas + Electric/Whip City Fiber, including: Firm or attorney names, Dates of engagement, Nature or subject of services, Related contracts, scopes of work, and invoices paid[;] [2] Employment contracts for the General Managers and Assistant General Manager, including amendments[;] [3] A full record of employee compensation from 2020 to present including: Base salaries, Bonuses, Overtime, Stipends or allowances, Any additional or non- monetary compensation, Documentation showing how bonuses or incentive pay are determined. Prior Petition This request was the subject of a prior fee petition. See SPR25/1420 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (May 23, 2025). In my May 23rd determination, I found that the Department had met its burden to assess a fee of $75.00 per hour for attorney review of records responsive to Item 1 of the request. 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

Robin Krok SPR25/1480 Page 2 May 30, 2025 The Department responded on May 20, 2025. Unsatisfied with the response, Ms. Kane petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR25/1480, was opened as a result. Subsequent to the opening of this appeal, the Department provided a supplemental response on May 27, 2025. 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). The Department’s May 20th and May 27th Responses In its May 20, 2025 response, the Department assessed a fee of $16,500.00 to provide Ms. Kane with responsive records. The Department estimated that it possessed 136 invoices responsive to Item 1 of the request, and stated that it would require 34 hours to review the invoices and 21 hours to redact them, at an hourly rate of $300.00. In its May 27, 2025 response, the Department assessed a fee of $4,250.00 to provide responsive records. The Department detailed its fee estimate as follows: All invoices will need to be reviewed to see if they contain any litigation strategy, legal opinions, or advice, and will then need to be redacted if privileged. WG+E estimates that gathering this information will take approximately 55 hours. The cost estimate for this item is 55 hours x $75.00 per hour = $4,125.00. WG+E assumes that your request for contracts for the General Manager and Assistant General Manager pertains to the individuals presently in these positions. Assuming WG+E is correct, this will require 1 hour of time. The cost estimate for this item is 1 hour x $25/hr = $25.00.

Robin Krok SPR25/1480 Page 3 May 30, 2025 Lastly regarding employee compensation from 2020 to present, WG+E estimates that gathering this information will take approximately 6 hours. The cost estimate for this work is 6 hours x $25.00 = $150.00. Total estimate = $4,250.00 Because the City of Westfield’s population exceeds 20,000, the first two hours of time are deducted from the total estimate. We have deducted 2 hours at the rate of $25/hr in the final estimate above. Although the Department has estimated that the process of compiling, reviewing, and preparing responsive documents for production will take 62 total hours of employee time, the Department has not provided sufficient explanation of why this amount of employee time is necessary. The Department must clarify how many hours of search time and how many hours of segregation and redaction time it requires to produce the responsive records. The Department must also provide additional information regarding the tasks necessary to produce the responsive records and the number of pages it possesses which are responsive to the request. For the reasons discussed above, I find the Department must revise its fee estimate or provide further explanation of how the fee of $4,250.00 assessed in its May 27, 2025 estimate is consistent with G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). This office encourages Ms. Kane and the Department to communicate further in order to facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(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 the records sought more efficiently and affordably). Any revision to the request would result in the requirement to issue a revised fee estimate. Conclusion Accordingly, the Department is ordered to provide Ms. Kane with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law, and its Regulations within ten 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. Ms. Kane may appeal the substantive nature of the Department’s response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1).

Robin Krok SPR25/1480 Page 4 May 30, 2025 Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Joanne Kane