Open Commonwealth, v. Malden, City of (SPR 20260889)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records March 26, 2026 SPR26/0889 Joanne Perperian Records Access Officer City of Malden 215 Pleasant Street Malden, MA 02148 Dear Ms. Perperian: I have received the petition of Open Commonwealth (requestor) appealing the response of the City of Malden (City) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On January 20, 2026, the requestor sought: [T]eams/zoom or other audio and visual recordings of the meeting(s) and the draft and final minutes of the meeting(s), any notes, recordings or other materials used in the preparation of such minutes and all documents and exhibits used at the sessions, for the following meetings and dates: January 20, 2026[,] City of Malden City Council Emergency Meeting[,] Regular and Executive Sessions[.] For committee and executive sessions; All meeting notices, video of, transcripts from, and meeting minutes from the meetings themselves and all documents and other exhibits, photographs, recordings or maps, and votes taken by and/or used by the body any other part of the official record of the session(s). The City responded on March 12, 2026. Unsatisfied with the City’s response, the requestor petitioned this office, and this appeal, SPR26/0889, was opened as a result. 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). 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

Joanne Perperian SPR26/0889 Page 2 March 26, 2026 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(b)(iv); 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). To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. 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. Current Appeal In the requestor’s appeal petition, the requestor contends: The attached executive session minutes are improperly redacted per the public records law and current case law, the litigation which may provide legal authority to redact these lines expired when the case was settled on January 20, 2026 in open court. Further all litigation activities for the specific case completely ceased on 3/10/2026 when the case was dismissed. Wherefore OpenCommonwealth hereby requests that the SPR find and Order Malden to remove the redactions on the attached executive session minutes. The City’s March 12th Response In its March 12, 2026 response, the City stated: Please accept this email as blanket response to multiple requests for executive session meeting minutes regarding lawsuits with Benevolent Botanicals and Tufts Construction. . . . The time you have waited to have these records released was due to court procedures & timelines and post-judgement administrative tasks necessary prior to publication. This office has been informed that as of March 10, 2026 in the Tufts case and as of March 11, 2026 in the Benevolent Botanicals case these records may now be distributed. Today’s date is March 12, 2026. Attached are fourteen sets of minutes. Thirteen of them are whole and unredacted. One, which is labeled 39-26, has three sentences that have been redacted. The decision to redact this very small portion of the minutes was done by a unanimous roll call vote of the Council due to the determination that unredacted minutes would defeat the lawful purpose of M.G.L. c. 30A, s. 22(f).

Joanne Perperian SPR26/0889 Page 3 March 26, 2026 Burden of Specificity In this case, the City has not met its burden in responding to the request. The City is advised that under the Public Records Law, the burden shall be on the custodian to establish the applicability of an exemption to withhold or redact records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(iv) (a 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”). See also Globe Newspaper Co. v. Police Comm’r, 419 Mass. 852, 857 (1995); Flatley, 419 Mass. at 511; Reinstein v. Police Comm’r of Boston, 378 Mass. 281, 289-90 (1979) (the statutory exemptions are narrowly construed and are not blanket in nature). Based on the City’s response, it is unclear which exemption the City is citing in order to redact the responsive record. Consequently, the City must explain the specific exemption or exemptions of the Public Records Law that apply. Conclusion Accordingly, the City 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 (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. The requestor may further appeal the substantive nature of the City’s response within ninety (90) days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Open Commonwealth