Anonymous FOIA Request v. Bristol Community College (SPR 20253451)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records December 8, 2025 SPR25/3451 Joyce Brennan Vice President of Marketing & Communication Bristol Community College 777 Elsbree Street Fall River, MA 02720 Dear Ms. Brennan: I have received the petition of Anonymous (requestor) appealing the response of the Bristol Community College (College) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66 § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On October 30, 2025, the requestor sought the following records during the period October 20, 2025 through October 30, 2025: [1] The full text of all emails (including attachments) sent or received via the college’s email system using the address ...@bristolcc.edu[;] [2] Metadata for each email (to/from/date/subject). Prior Petition This request was the subject of a prior petition. See SPR25/3325 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (November 18, 2025). In my November 18th determination, I found that the College established good cause to permit an extension of time and was granted an extension of 20 business days. I further found that the College met its burden to explain how, given the nature of the responsive records, the request could not prudently be completed without redaction or segregation and further found that to the extent the responsive records contain the exempt information as described above, the College may assess a fee for the segregation and redaction of such exempt material. The College provided a response on November 12, 2025. Unsatisfied with the response, the requestor petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR25/3451, was opened as a result. 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

Joyce Brennan SPR24/3451 Page 2 December 8, 2025 Fee estimate - Agencies An agency 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). Agencies may not assess a fee for the first 4 hours of employee time to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the record or records requested. G. L. c. 66; § 10(d)(ii). Where appropriate, agencies 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. 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)(ii); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). Current Appeal In his appeal, the requestor objects to the fee estimate and states, “[t]he College’s estimate of over 78 hours of labor is excessive and inconsistent with the ‘reasonable and necessary’ standard under M.G.L. c. 66, §10(C) and 950 CMR 32.06(4) ... The College has assigned the work to a high-level administrator rather than the lowest paid qualified employee, contrary to 950 CMR 32.07(2) ... Redaction hours are overstated. Not all 350 emails can plausibly require FERPA or personnel redactions, and non-exempt portions must be produced promptly even where some student records may exist.” The College’s November 12th Fee Estimate In its November 12, 2025 response, the College provided an estimated fee of $1,856.25. In support of the fee estimate, the College stated the following: Request Service Type Hourly Billable Hours Subtotal Estimated Estimated Rate* (After First 4 page per Pages Free Hours) hour Emails Search & $25.00 17 hrs (21 total $425.00 50 1050 Estimated Compile – 4 free) 350 Segregate $25.00 26.25 hrs $656.25 40 1050 Redact $25.00 31.0 hrs $775.00 30 1050 TOTALS $1,856.25

Joyce Brennan SPR24/3451 Page 3 December 8, 2025 The College further advised that the “[h]ourly rate of the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to complete the record request ... shall not exceed twenty-five dollars ($25) per hour, and there is no charge for the first four (4) hours of work. Segregation and redaction will only be performed as required by law, and any associated charges will be limited to those necessary to comply with Exemption (a), Exemption (c), or the attorney-client privilege. No charges will be applied for items not required to be redacted or segregated by law.” Although the College has estimated that the process of compiling, reviewing, and preparing responsive documents for production will take 78.25 hours of employee time, it is unclear how the College requires this many hours to produce the responsive records. Specifically, it is unclear how the college requires 21 hours to search for the responsive email records. The College must provide details on what the search process entails. Further, it is uncertain how the College requires 26.25 hours and 31 hours to segregate and redact the records, respectively. The College must advise as to how many minutes per page it will take to segregate and redact the responsive records. As such, the College must provide additional information regarding its fee estimate. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv) (requiring the amount of the fee be reasonable). For the reasons discussed above, I find the College must revise its fee estimate or provide further explanation of how the fee assessed is expressly provided for and consistent with G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). I encourage the requestor and the College to communicate further in order to facilitate producing records efficiently and affordably. The requestor may wish to include additional factors to enable the search to be processed. G. L. c. 66, § l0(a)(i). The College must use its knowledge of the records to facilitate providing any responsive records. G. L. c. 66, § l0(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 College is ordered to provide the requestor 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. The requestor may appeal the substantive nature of the College’s response within ninety days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1).

Joyce Brennan SPR24/3451 Page 4 December 8, 2025 Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Anonymous