Silvia, Mike v. Fall River, City of - Police Department (SPR 20261126)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records March 30, 2026 SPR26/1126 Amanda Matton Staff Services Fall River Police Department 685 Pleasant Street Fall River, MA 02721 Dear Ms. Matton: On March 27, 2026, this office received your petition on behalf of the Fall River Police Department (Department) seeking a waiver of statutory limits on fees that may be assessed in responding to three requests for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c); G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(4). As required by law, I understand that the Department furnished a copy of this petition to the requestor, Michael Silvia. G. L. c. 66, § 10(c); G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv)(2). On March 14, 2026, March 20, 2026, and March 23, 2026, Mr. Silvia made the following requests: Request 1 Please tell me how many police officers have retired (or put in retirement and on time) since Oct, 2024. Please provide their names, total years of service and unit. Request 2 I’m requesting the [identified individual] investigation report on [two identified individuals]. Please reference this [identified] article… Request 3 I’m requesting the video interview of [two identified individuals] regarding the DCM report that was conducted last year. [An identified individual] referenced it on WSAR and I talked to [two identified individuals] about it and they both say it exists and available. 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

Amanda Matton SPR26/1126 Page 2 March 30, 2026 Petition to Assess Fees – Municipalities The Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) may approve a petition from a municipality to charge for time spent segregating or redacting or to charge in excess of $25 per hour, if the Supervisor determines that 1) the request is for a commercial purpose or 2) the fee represents an actual and good faith representation by the municipality to comply with the request. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). In rendering such a decision, the Supervisor is required to consider the following: a) the public interest served by limiting the cost of public access to the records; b) the financial ability of the requestor to pay the additional or increased fees; and c) any other relevant extenuating circumstances. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). The statute sets out a two-prong test for determining whether the Supervisor may approve a municipality’s petition to allow the municipality to charge for time spent segregating or redacting records. The first prong is whether the request for records was made for a commercial purpose. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). It is my determination that this request was not made for a commercial purpose. The second prong of the test is whether the fee represents an actual and good faith representation by the municipality to comply with the request. The Supervisor must consider 1) if the fee is necessary such that the request could not have been prudently completed without the redaction or segregation or fee in excess of $25 per hour; 2) the amount of the fee is reasonable; and 3) the fee is not designed to limit, deter or prevent access to requested public records. Id. Fee Estimates – Municipalities A municipality may assess a reasonable fee for the production of a public record except those records that are freely available for public inspection. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). The fees must reflect the actual cost of complying with a particular request. Id. A maximum fee of five cents ($.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).

Amanda Matton SPR26/1126 Page 3 March 30, 2026 Fee in Excess of $25.00 per Hour In its petition, the Department states the following concerning its request to charge a fee in excess of $25.00 per hour: We acknowledge that the Public Records Law provides that the fee must be calculated using the hourly rate equal to or less than the hourly rate of the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill to complete the search and segregation and that the hourly rate cannot exceed $25.00 per hour unless approved by the Supervisor. Unfortunately, this is one instance where an upward deviation from maximum rate should be made. Within this agency, only the two officers assigned to the Office of Professional Standards have authorized access to these records. Particularly [two identified officers] (lowest paid employee $48.37) These officers possess the necessary system permissions, training, and experience required to retrieve, review, and properly redact the requested materials in compliance with applicable laws and privacy protections. There are no other employees within the agency who have access to these records or who can be assigned this task. As such, the retrieval, review, and redaction of the requested documents must be performed by one of these two authorized officers, which is the basis for the associated fee being assessed for the time required to fulfill the request. At this time, the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill to complete the search and segregation is [an identified officer] whose hourly rate is $48.37 hr. This individual is the lowest paid employee in the Office of Professional Standards who has knowledge and training pertaining to Public Records Law exemptions, as well as data extraction, redaction software aptitude, and access to requested records… Based on its petition, I find the Department has not met its burden to explain how the request could not prudently be completed without assessing fees in excess of $25.00 per hour. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv). Conclusion Accordingly, permission to charge fees in excess of $25.00 per hour cannot be granted at this time. This office encourages Mr. Silvia and the Department to communicate directly in order to facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vii) (a municipality shall suggest a reasonable modification to 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

Amanda Matton SPR26/1126 Page 4 March 30, 2026 produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). Any subsequent fee estimate from the Department must be made in compliance with G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(viii) and G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iii). Please note, the Department has the right to seek judicial review of this decision by commencing a civil action in the appropriate superior court. See G. L. c. 66, §§ 10(c), 10(d)(iv)(4), 10A(c). Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Michael Silvia