Dan Riley v. Sandwich, Town of (SPR 20252888)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records October 9, 2025 SPR25/2888 Taylor D. White Town Clerk Town of Sandwich 130 Main Street Sandwich, MA 02563 Dear Mr. White: I have received the petition of Dan Riley appealing the response of the Town of Sandwich (Town) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On September 4, 2025, Mr. Riley requested “… any and all email correspondence to or from [an identified employee] of the Sandwich Public Schools … containing [four specific key words] … from June 1, 2024 to the present date.” The Town responded on September 18 and September 19, 2025. Unsatisfied with the response, Mr. Riley petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR25/2888, 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 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). 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

Taylor D. White SPR25/2888 Page 2 October 9, 2025 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 Town’s September 18th and September 19th Responses In its September 18, 2025 response, the Town assessed a fee of $3,000.00 to produce 35,957 email communications. The Town estimated that it would require a total of 150 hours to “review” the responsive records, at a rate of $20.00 per hour. The Town did not assess a fee for the first two hours of employee time spent responding to the request. In its September 19, 2025 response, the Town advised Mr. Riley that the identified employee “… is likely to be copie[d] on a vast number of email exchanges each day, the high number of results is expected.” The Town encouraged Mr. Riley to modify his request. Although the Town has estimated that the process of reviewing the responsive documents and preparing them for production will take 150 hours of employee time, the Town has not provided sufficient explanation of why this amount of employee time is necessary. Specifically, the Town 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 Town must also provide additional information regarding the tasks necessary to produce the responsive records. Additionally, the Town must clarify whether $20.00 per hour is the hourly rate of the lowest paid employee who has the skill required to search for, compile, segregate, redact, or reproduce the requested records. For the reasons discussed above, I find the Town must revise its fee estimate or provide further explanation of how the fee assessed in its September 18, 2025 estimate is consistent with G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). This office encourages Mr. Riley and the Town 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 Town is ordered to provide Mr. Riley 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. Mr.

Taylor D. White SPR25/2888 Page 3 October 9, 2025 Riley may appeal the substantive nature of the Town’s response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Dan Riley