Elizabeth Paskowski v. Somerset, Town of - Water Department (SPR 20253069)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records October 31, 2025 SPR25/3069 Jacquelyn Ferreira Records Access Officer Town of Somerset 3249 County Street Somerset, MA 02726 Dear Ms. Ferreira: I have received the petition of Elizabeth Paskowski appealing the response of the Town of Somerset (Town) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66 § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On August 29, 2025, Ms. Paskowski requested, “[t]he current loans that the Water and Sewer Departments are paying: the amount borrowed and date, the principal and interest paid so far per year, the principal and interest owed, per year for each loan. Also include the reason for the loan.” The Town responded on September 11, 2025 providing a fee estimate. Unsatisfied with the response, Ms. Paskowski petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR25/3069, was opened as a result. Fee Estimates – Municipalities 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. 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 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 of records requested unless the municipality has 20,000 people or less. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii). Where appropriate, 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

Jacquelyn Ferreira SPR25/3069 Page 2 October 31, 2025 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, segrgegate, redact or reproduce the 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). The Town’s September 11th Response In its September 11, 2025 response, the Town provided a fee estimate of $50.00 and stated the following: As permitted by law, you will be charged for employee search time, which is charged at the hourly rate of the lowest paid person capable of locating the responsive records, in accordance with 950 CMR 32.07(2)(i). The employee time detailed above is charged at the hourly rate of the lowest paid person capable of searching for the responsive records, in accordance with 950 CMR 32.07(2)(i), which shall not exceed $25.00 per hour, unless otherwise authorized by the Supervisor of Records. Moreover, because the Town has less than 20,000 residents (population 18,303) you will be charged for all work associated with this request. Please note that the actual cost of producing the records may vary once the Water and Sewer Departments begin preparing the records for response. At this time, it is anticipated that the Water and Sewer Departments will be able to produce most of the records electronically, as note[d] above. Please be advised, however, that if there are any responsive records that do not exist in electronic format, and if there are any documents that may only be redacted manually and not electronically (and thus much be printed prior to redaction), copying charges will apply at the rate of $.05 per page. Based on the foregoing, upon receipt of your payment in the amount of $50.00 made payable to the Town of Somerset, the Water and Water and Sewer Departments will begin the requested work necessary to comply with your request… Please note that the Water and Sewer Departments anticipate that they will need the maximum amount of time permitted by law to further respond to the requests upon receiving payment. Thus, the Water and Sewer Departments will provide the responsive records within fifteen (15) business days of receiving payment. G.L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vi).

Jacquelyn Ferreira SPR25/3069 Page 3 October 31, 2025 Current Appeal In her October 21, 2025 appeal to this office, Ms. Paskowski stated, “I do not understand why this information isn’t made available in some form, and totally do not agree with this Good Faith Estimate. They should gladly share it with the customers.” Reasonableness of the fee estimate Although the Town has estimated that it would take 2 hours to complete the search and compilation process, it is unclear why the Town requires this amount of time to search for and compile the records. The Town must provide an explanation of the tasks performed during the two hours of search time. Further, it is not clear from the Town’s estimate if it intends to assess a fee for segregation or redaction and how much time has been allocated for this task. Accordingly, the Town must provide further details regarding its fee estimate. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv) (requiring the amount of the fee be reasonable). I encourage Ms. Paskowski and the Town to communicate in order to facilitate producing records efficiently and affordably. The Town must use its knowledge of the records to facilitate providing any responsive records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(vii) (an agency or 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 agency or municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). Conclusion Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide Ms. Paskowski with a response to her request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law, and its Regulations within ten (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. Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Elizabeth Paskowski