Elan Pavlov v. Cambridge, City of - Office of the City Solicitor (SPR 20253599)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records December 19, 2025 SPR25/3599 Seah Levy Public Records Access Officer City of Cambridge Office of the City Solicitor 795 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 Dear Ms. Levy: I have received the petition of Elan Pavlov appealing the response of the City of Cambridge (City) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On November 4, 2025, Mr. Pavlov requested, “On November 4, 2025, Mr. Pavlov requested “all emails sent or received by [two identified individuals] on their municipal email accounts (…cambridgema.gov, ...@cambridgema.gov) between Nov 1st 2019 and [N]ov 30th 2020. Please include all attachments.” Previous Petition This request was the subject of a previous petition from the City. See SPR25/3431 Determination of the Supervisor of Records (November 26, 2025). In my November 26th determination, I found that it was unnecessary to opine on the City’s petition seeking an extension of time to produce records, permission to charge for time spent segregating or redacting responsive records and a waiver of statutory limits on fees that may be assessed in responding to the request in light of Mr. Pavlov’s decision to modify the scope of his request. In his modified November 19, 2025 request, Mr. Pavlov sought, “the 3 days worth of initial records from the 18th of Nov 2019 to the 20th of Nov 2019.” Subsequently, the City provided a response on December 5, 2025. Unsatisfied with the City’s response, Mr. Pavlov petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR25/3599, was opened as a result. While this appeal was pending, the City provided a supplemental response in an email to Mr. Pavlov and this office on December 11, 2025. 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

Seah Levy SPR25/3599 Page 2 December 19, 2025 The Public Records Law The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A(d); 950 C.M.R. 32.03(4). “Public records” is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any agency or municipality of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv) (written response must “identify any records, categories of records or portions of records that the agency or municipality intends to withhold, and provide the specific reasons for such withholding, including the specific exemption or exemptions upon which the withholding is based…”); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). 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. The City’s December 5th and December 11th Responses In its December 5, 2025 response, the City quoted Mr. Pavlov’s initial November 4, 2025 request and explained, “[d]ue to the complexity of searching for, reviewing, and segregating the requested documents the City hereby identifies a reasonable timeframe to respond to your request of 25 business days from the date of receipt of your payment for this request, pursuant to G.L. c. 66 §10(b)(vi).” The City further noted that, “[s]pecifically, the City anticipates approximately 1,800 pages of responsive records.” In its supplemental December 11, 2025 response, the City additionally advised, “. . . the City of Cambridge is working to produce these records, and simply took a time extension in order to finish this task. We hope to have these records to the requester soon.” Current Appeal In his December 5, 2025 appeal, Mr. Pavlov objects to the City’s response and states, “. . . Cambridge is now claiming that there are 300 mails per person per day. They thus claim they need 25 days to comply.” He further notes “that [the City] [has] previously acknowledged that I have only requested 3 days of records for two people.” Timeliness of Providing Records G. L. c. 66, § 10(b) provides, in pertinent part, that if the magnitude or difficulty of the request unduly burdens the other responsibilities of the agency or municipality such that the

Seah Levy SPR25/3599 Page 3 December 19, 2025 agency or municipality cannot provide records within 10 business days, the agency or municipality must inform the requestor in writing within 10 business days. With respect to the timeframe to produce responsive records, the written response shall: identify a reasonable timeframe in which the agency or municipality shall produce the public records sought; provided, that . . . for a municipality the timeframe shall not exceed 25 business days following the initial receipt of the request for public records; and provided further, that the requestor may voluntarily agree to a response date beyond the timeframes set forth herein. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vi). Where Mr. Pavlov submitted his modified request on November 19, 2025, and the City has not provided responsive records, nor cited an exemption for withholding records, I find the City has not met its burden in responding to the request in accordance with G. L. c. 66, § 10(b). Consequently, the City must provide an estimated date as to when it intends to complete the search and provide the responsive records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a) (records must be provided without unreasonable delay). To the extent possible, the City must provide responsive records on a rolling basis. Conclusion Accordingly, the City is ordered to provide Mr. Pavlov with a response to his modified 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: Elan Pavlov