Cindy King v. Townsend, Town of (SPR 20252916)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records October 17, 2025 SPR25/2916 Harrison C. Mayotte Town Clerk Town of Townsend 272 Main Street Townsend, MA 01469 Dear Mr. Mayotte: I have received the petition of Cindy King appealing the response of the Town of Townsend (Town) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On August 27, 2025, Ms. King requested “… a copy of the ‘payroll register’ for all Townsend employees in all categories … July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023.” The Town responded on September 9 and October 1, 2025. Unsatisfied with the Town’s responses, Ms. King petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR25/2916, 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

Harrison C. Mayotte SPR25/2916 Page 2 October 17, 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 9th and October 1st Responses In its September 9, 2025 response, the Town informed Ms. King that it would require an additional 15 business days to respond to the request, and estimated that it would provide responsive records or a fee estimate no later than October 2, 2025. In its October 1, 2025 response, the Town assessed a fee of $64.71 to provide responsive records. The Town estimated that responding to the request would require three hours of “searching for, compiling, segregating, redacting, and/or reproducing the responsive records,” at an hourly rate of $21.57. G. L. c. 66, § 10(e) G. L. c. 66, § 10(e) provides that “[a] records access officer shall not charge a fee for a public record unless the records access officer responded to the requestor within 10 business days under subsection (b).” In this case, where Ms. King submitted her public records request on August 27, 2025 and the Town provided a fee estimate on October 1, 2025, I find that the Town did not provide Ms. King with a response to her request within 10 business days of receipt of the request, as required to assess a fee under G. L. c. 66, § 10(e). Consequently, I find that the Town may not assess a fee to produce records responsive to the requests. Conclusion Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide Ms. King 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. King 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: Cindy King