Roxanne Gunther v. Monson, Town of - Town Clerk (SPR 20252923)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records October 14, 2025 SPR25/2923 Mary F. Watson Town Clerk Town of Monson 110 Main Street Monson, MA 01057 Dear Ms. Watson: I have received the petition of Roxanne Gunther appealing the response of the Town of Monson (Town) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On September 29, 2025, Ms. Gunther requested “the total for legal fees from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025.” The Town responded on October 3, 2025, assigning the request reference number PR-629 and providing a fee estimate. Unsatisfied with the Town’s response, Ms. Gunther petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR25/2923, 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 2 (two) 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). 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). 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

Mary F. Watson SPR25/2923 Page 2 October 14, 2025 The Town’s October 3rd Response In its October 3, 2025 response, the Town assessed a fee of $25.00 to provide the responsive records. In support of its fee estimate, the Town stated: Good faith estimate is for research time. Monson is a population under 20,000. Hours required to complete the request: 1 Hourly rate (at the lowest hourly rate of person completing request no more than $25): $25.00 Total Search Fees: $25.00 Total segregate and/or redact Fees: $0.00 Total Cost Good Faith Estimate: $25.00 On October 6, 2025, the Town provided a copy of an email from its accounting department confirming the request would take one hour to fulfill. In a subsequent email to this office on October 14, 2025, the Town provided the following additional information regarding its search for records: The initial part of pulling the reports for the two legal vendors from our software is quick. Reviewing the payment detail is what adds the additional time. At times, fees are paid directly to legal for things that are not legal fees incurred by the town for services. For example, if CPC buys land and the closing is done through legal counsel, but paid by CPC, it can skew what was actually incurred as legal fees… I included this time to review the expenditure detail and pull invoices if necessary to make sure I provide an accurate figure. That being said, if the request is simply for the total spent from the legal lines regardless if any portion may have been paid from another source, I can provide that for less research time. Current Appeal In her appeal petition, Ms. Gunther stated, “I requested the same information last year and was sent the information at no charge… This year they are requesting $25.00 and I feel that is a ridiculous amount of money for them to open the computer and send me a one or two line amount. It should take no more than five minutes at most.” Fee Waivers G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(v) provides the following with respect to waiving a fee for the production of responsive records: the records access officer may waive or reduce the amount of any fee charged under this subsection upon a showing that disclosure of a requested record is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public

Mary F. Watson SPR25/2923 Page 3 October 14, 2025 understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requestor, or upon a showing that the requestor lacks the financial ability to pay the full amount of the reasonable fee. Please be advised, although the Supervisor may encourage fees to be waived, the Supervisor may not mandate that a records access officer waive fees assessed for complying with a public records request; rather, as described above, the records access officer may waive or reduce the amount of any fee upon a showing of various factors. See G. L. c. 66, § 10 (d)(v); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2)(k). Reasonableness of the Fee Estimate In this case, the Town has explained the amount of time it requires to search for the requested records and confirmed that it is not charging a fee for segregation or redaction. Further, where the Town has a population of less than 20,000 and has confirmed that the lowest paid individual with the skill necessary to perform those tasks is paid $25.00 per hour, I find that the Town has met its burden to establish that it would take this amount of time to produce the responsive records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d) (a records access officer may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record). This office encourages Ms. Gunther and the Town to communicate to facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably. Ms. Gunther may wish to narrow her request. 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, I will now consider this administrative appeal closed. If Ms. Gunther 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 of Massachusetts. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A(c) (pursuing administrative appeal does not limit availability of applicable judicial remedies). Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Roxanne Gunther