David Calhoun v. Weston, Town of - Office of the Town Manager (SPR 20252292)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records August 20, 2025 SPR25/2292 Leon Gaumond, Jr. Town Manager Town of Weston 11 Town House Road Weston, MA 02493 Dear Mr. Gaumond: I have received the petition of Dave Calhoun appealing the response of the Town of Weston (Town) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). In six separate requests on July 10, 2025, July 14, 2025, July 15, 2025, and July 21, 2025, Mr. Calhoun requested: [1] ... all draft minutes, hand notes, memos, records of motions and votes, emails, text messages created or received in the 6 hours before, and 24 hours after the conclusion of, the Select Board July 8, 2025 meeting. [2] Re: Conservation Commission Members ... who replaced the following [identified] members whose term expired one [sic] June 30, 2025 and record of the new appointments including the date and vote by the Select Board: Also all Associate Members expired on June 30th 2025 ... please provide the new appointments and record of the appointments including the date and vote by Select Board. [3] ... all records of payments to consultants, legal services, and professionals related to the following [identified six] 40B projects ... from 2016 to present[.] [4] ... copies of all agendas, minutes ... hand notes, votes of the Zoning Board of Appeals meetings ... [from] June 1, 2025 through July 15, 2025 [and], if no meetings took place, provide a letter stating the same. Also any informal meetings ZBA members attended directly or indirectly related to Weston Zoning ... [5] ... all emails sent or received ... [from] June 1, 2025 to July 15, 2025 by [an identified individual]. 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

Leon Gaumond, Jr. SPR25/2292 Page 2 August 20, 2025 [6] ... all emails and text messages and written notes sent to and or received from [identified individuals] during the period of June 10, 2025 to July 21, 2025. On August 4, 2025, Mr. Calhoun modified his request to the six items as follows: Request 1 (7/10/25) - approx. 120 emails (see town letter bottom of page 4) please provide the 120 emails Request 2 (7/15/25) - no further information needed. Request 3 (7/15/25) - Town claims no records- please reconsider the response as the town must have records of payment as requested. Only looking for party paid and amount. Request 4 (7/15/25) - no further information needed. Request 5 (7/15/25) - Town reports approx. 230 emails(see town letter bottom of page. 4) Please provide the 230 emails. Request 6 (7/15/25) - Town reports 6,000 emails… please reconsider your response based on the following reduction in the request - only emails sent by [an identified individual] to [identified] Town Manager during the noted time. Plus any emails sent to [an identified individual] by Assistant Town Manager ... during the noted time. Prior Petition The requested records were the subject of a prior petition. See SPR25/2180 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (July 30, 2025). In my July 30th determination, I found that the Town had met its burden for an extension of thirty business days to respond to the request and to assess a fee for segregation and/or redaction of the records. In addition, I found that the Town may assess an hourly rate limited to $75.00 for attorney review for segregation and redaction under the attorney-client privilege and attorney work product. The Town responded on August 6, 2025. Unsatisfied with the response, Mr. Calhoun petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR25/2292, was opened as a result. Fee Estimates – Municipalities A municipality may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Id. A maximum fee of five cents ($.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 (two) 2 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

Leon Gaumond, Jr. SPR25/2292 Page 3 August 20, 2025 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). Current appeal In his appeal to this office, Mr. Calhoun states, “[t]he legal hours requested seem excessive as previous response shows your legal review averages 846 emails per hour. This request per your own docs shows only 440 emails which represents less that 1/2 hour…. Please correct your estimate.” The Town’s August 6th response In its August 6, 2025 response, the Town provided a fee estimate of $237.50. The Town stated as follows: By e-mail dated August 4, 2025, you narrowed your “Request 6” to include only those e-mails sent from June 10, 2025 through June 21, 2025 by Select Board [identified] Chair to [identified] Town Manager and [identified] Assistant Town Manager. Consistent with the Supervisor’s determination and your narrowed Request 6, therefore, this letter is to update the fee estimate provided in the Town’s July 24, 2025 letter. As permitted by law, you will be charged for employee search time to locate and identify responsive records, at the hourly rate of the lowest paid person capable of compiling, segregating, redacting where required by law, and reproducing responsive records, in accordance with 950 CMR 32.07(2)(i). The Town of Weston anticipates that there are approximately 444 e-mails responsive to Requests #1, #5 and #6. The fee estimate is broken down as follows: Title Hours Per Hour Cost Total Records Access 1 hour (to search for and locate $ 25/hour $25.00 Officer responsive records) Information 1 hour (to run electronic $ 25/hour $25.00 Technology searches)

Leon Gaumond, Jr. SPR25/2292 Page 4 August 20, 2025 Senior Town Staff1 1.5 hours (to segregate and $25/hour $37.50 review records not subject to attorney-client privilege for personnel and medical information the disclosure of which would be an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy) Town Counsel 2.0 hours (to conduct additional $ 75/hour $150.00 searches and to review responsive records for any attorney-client privileged material, and attorney work product, or any material that is required by law to be redacted, before production) TOTAL 5.25 hrs $237.50 Upon review, the Town of Weston has a population less than 20,000 allowing the Town to charge for all the time to prepare these records for production. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii). Further, the Town assessed a fee for segregation and redaction of documents under Exemptions (c) and (d) of the Public Records Law. Pursuant to the petition the Town filed under G. L. c. 66, § 10(c), the Town was permitted to charge for time necessary to redact records under Exemptions (c) and (d) of the Public Records Law. In light of the Town’s August 6th response, I find it is unclear the number of minutes that the Town must spend per page for the redactions. The Town must clarify. Conclusion Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide Mr. Calhoun with a response to the request, in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within 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. Calhoun may appeal the substantive nature of the Town’s response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1).

Leon Gaumond, Jr. SPR25/2292 Page 5 August 20, 2025 Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Dave Calhoun Lauren Goldberg, Esq.