John Barrella v. Middleborough, Town of - Office of the Town Clerk (SPR 20251511)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records June 10, 2025 SPR25/1511 Allison J. Ferreira Records Access Officer Town of Middleborough 20 Centre Street Middleborough, MA 02346 Dear Ms. Ferreira, I have received the petition of John Barrella appealing the response of the Town of Middleborough (Town) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66 § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On May 13, 2025, Mr. Barrella requested the following: [1] All department manager, director and above salaries from FY22-FY25 and list any stipends paid; [2] Provide detailed contract verification that stipends were included in these respective years contracts; [3] Provide a line item amount of each stipend and a total value of all stipends; [4] An explanation as to why the original list of employees being paid was only 48, then a second list was presented that grew to 108; [5] Any vehicle leased, registered, used by any department manager, director or above town official; [6] Provide details on any gas cards issued to any director or above and when; [7] An explanation as to why I was denied access to MUNIS while I was the chair of the finance committee; [8] An explanation as to why the MUNIS data migration has not included all prior year line item details; 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

Allison J. Ferreira SPR25/1511 Page 2 June 10, 2025 [9] An explanation as to how this MUNIS data migration will be properly conducted and by when; [10] An explanation into the multiple sets of actuals provided on reported salary and Overtime spend for Fiscal Years 23-24, respectively; [11] An explanation of what funds were used to cover these overages of approximately $2.8M (salary) and $690K (over-time) based on town provided data and corresponding town provided discrepancies; [12] A complete list of names, positions and salaries of all new hires, effective Jan. 1, 2023 through today. The Town provided a response on May 28, 2025. Unsatisfied with the Town’s response, Mr. Barrella petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR25/1511, was opened as a result. 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. See 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. See 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 Town’s May 28th Response In its May 28, 2025 response, the Town stated the following: The Town has reviewed your request, and based upon its diligent search, it responds as follows. The Town does not have any records responsive to parts Nos. 3, 4, 6, or 8. Salary information responsive part No. 1 may be found in the Town Budget books located on the Town Website at ... responsive to the remaining parts can be found in the DropBox folder, linked here ...

Allison J. Ferreira SPR25/1511 Page 3 June 10, 2025 The Town has no other records responsive to this request. Current Appeal In his appeal, Mr. Barrella stated the following: [Regarding Item 1] – Items on salary do exist but no names were provided. I am thus, clarifying my request to include please list salaries by name, along with stipends paid to a specific employee. [Regarding Item 3] – The records must exist, as stipends were paid. If no stipends were paid during this period, please acknowledge. [Regarding Item 4] – A document may not exist, but a reason or explanation does. Please provide. [Regarding Item 5] – No answer provided – I will clarify my request to who within the [T]own’s management structure utilizes a vehicle either at their discretion or not, the use of a town vehicle for travel purposes not within the town or on town business. [Regarding Item 6] – Please confirm that no gas cards are issued to any town employee. [Regarding Item 12] – The information was neither provided in the [T]own’s response nor explanation provided as to why a response was excluded. Other – [1] Regarding the dropbox file, I have an account but was not able to access the link provided. Please send the information another way or sent specifically to via dropbox to my account [2] Regarding explanations sought I am clarifying my request to include: any email that includes “MUNIS” and/or “John Barrella.” Based on Mr. Barella’s petition and the Town’s response, it is unclear whether the Town possesses additional responsive records. 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). 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). Consequently, the Town must clarify whether any responsive records exist.

Allison J. Ferreira SPR25/1511 Page 4 June 10, 2025 Preferred Format of the Requestor Additionally, the Town is advised that a records access officer must, to the extent feasible, provide public records to a requestor in electronic format unless the record is not available in electronic format or the requestor does not have the ability to receive or access the records in electronic format and if feasible, in the requestor’s preferred format. In the absence of a preferred format, the records must be provided in a searchable machine-readable form. See 950 C.M.R. 32.04(5)(d). In light of Mr. Barrella’s appeal, I find the Town must clarify whether the responsive records can be provided in a format that can be accessed by him. I encourage the parties to work together to resolve these outstanding issues concerning the format of the records. Conclusion Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide Mr. Barrella with a response to his request in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law, and its Regulations within ten (10) 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. Mr. Barrella may appeal the substantive nature of the Town’s response within ninety (90) days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: John Barrella