Aaron v. Massachusetts Parole Board (SPR 20251794)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records June 27, 2025 SPR25/1794 Stacy Book Primary Records Access Officer Massachusetts Parole Board 12 Mercer Road Natick, MA 01760 Dear Ms. Book: I have received the petition of Aaron (requestor) appealing the response of the Massachusetts Parole Board (Board) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On May 19, 2025, the requestor sought: [1] Any and all business cards which were located on the desk of [an identified individual] located at [a specific address] as they were at 11:30AM 5/19/25[;] [2] [An identified individual’s] employee record, excluding all personally protected information, but to include any and all complaints this Office has received on him, any disciplinary actions, rate of pay, starting position, and original start date from when [an identified individual] was hired by this Agency[;] [3] Who [an identified individual’s] immediate supervisor is and their contact details to include, telephone number and state email address as I’d like to submit a complaint against the above named. Prior Appeal This request was the subject of a prior appeal. See SPR25/1761 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (June 24, 2025). In my June 24th determination, I found that the Board had provided the requestor with a written response on June 20, 2025. Unsatisfied with the response, the requestor petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR25/1794, was opened as a result. 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

Stacy Book SPR25/1794 Page 2 June 27, 2025 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. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Att’y 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. 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 Board’s June 20th Response In its June 20, 2025 response, the Board stated: With respect to your first request, which seeks the production of documents which were located on a specific desk at a specific time in the past, the Parole Board has no reasonable way of identifying which specific business cards were present on the desk at that time. Accordingly, I am denying this request. However, in your public records request you state that you are seeking “business cards of any local agents”. To that end, please be advised the Parole Board has made a staff directory of parole board employees available to the public on our website … With respect to your second request, seeking employee records of a named employee of the Massachusetts Parole Board, where all records you are seeking are personnel files related to a specifically named individual, the disclosure of which would constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, these records are exempt from disclosure pursuant to exemption (c) of the public records law … Finally, with respect to your third request, seeking the identity of this employee’s immediate supervisor and contact details in order to register a complaint, [the identified employee’s] supervisor is [an identified individual]. The best way to get in touch with him, particularly where you are seeking to register a complaint, is to email him[.]

Stacy Book SPR25/1794 Page 3 June 27, 2025 Current Appeal In his June 22, 2025 petition to this office, the requestor clarified with regard to Item 1 of the request that he was seeking “… copies of business cards printed and maintained for, and at the Framingham field office.” The requestor did not object to the Board’s responses to Items 2 and 3 of the request. Reasonable Description of Records Sought Please be aware, the Public Records Law states that a records access officer must furnish a copy of any public record “provided that the request reasonably describes the public record sought.” See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(i). In a recent case, the Superior Court found that under the Public Records Law “[t]he reasonable description requirement contemplates that a requesting party will identify documents or categories of documents with sufficient particularity that government employees will be able to understand exactly what they are looking for, and then make a prompt production.” See Jaideep Chawla v. Dept of Revenue, Suffolk. Sup. No. l784CV02087, at 2 (January 23, 2019). The court further indicated “[r]equests for documents that are articulated with very broad language that calls upon non-lawyer administrative personnel to interpret the scope of what is sought, and then make fine judgments about what documents are and are not sufficiently ‘related’ to the category of materials requested, will not satisfy this statutory standard.” Id. Consistent with the decision in Chawla, I find that Item 1 of the request does not satisfy the statutory standard for a request that reasonably describes the public record sought. See Chawla, at 2. The requestor may wish to communicate with the Board directly, to provide clarification regarding the specific records he is seeking. Once the requestor has provided the needed clarification, the Board must provide a response within 10 business days. This office encourages the requestor and the Board to communicate to facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vii) (an agency 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 agency to produce the records sought more efficiently and affordably). Conclusion Accordingly, I will now consider this administrative appeal closed. If the requestor is not satisfied with the resolution of this administrative appeal, please be advised that this office shares jurisdiction with the Superior Court of the Commonwealth. See G. L. c. 66, §§ 10(b)(ix), 10A(c) (pursuing administrative appeal does not limit availability of judicial remedies).

Stacy Book SPR25/1794 Page 4 June 27, 2025 Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Aaron