McLeod, Spencer v. Southborough, Town of (SPR 20261144)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records April 9, 2026 SPR26/1144 Mark J. Purple Town Administrator Town of Southborough 17 Common Street Southborough, MA 01772 Dear Mr. Purple: I have received the petition of Spencer McLeod appealing the response of the Town of Southborough (Town) to a request for public records. See G. L. c. 66 § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On February 20, 2026, Mr. McLeod requested the following: [C]opies of email communications created or transmitted between December 30, 2025 and February 20, 2026, subject to the specific individual queries below…. For every individual query listed below: [1] First report how many responsive emails exist for the exact From/To pair within the specified date range[;] [2] Then produce all responsive emails (including attachments and full header metadata: sender, recipients, date/time, subject)[;] Part A – Emails Sent by [an identified individual] [1] FROM: [an identified individual] TO: [an identified individual]… [2] FROM: [an identified individual] TO: [an identified individual]… [3] FROM: [an identified individual] TO: [an identified individual]… [4] FROM: [an identified individual] TO: [an identified individual]… [5] FROM: [an identified individual] TO: [an identified individual]… [6] FROM: [an identified individual] TO: [an identified individual]… [7] FROM: [an identified individual] TO: [an identified individual]… Part B – Emails Received by [an identified individual] [1] FROM: [an identified individual] TO: [an identified individual]… [2] FROM: [an identified individual] TO: [an identified individual]… [3] FROM: [an identified individual] TO: [an identified individual]… 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

Mark J. Purple SPR26/1144 Page 2 April 9, 2026 [4] FROM: [an identified individual] TO: [an identified individual]… [5] FROM: [an identified individual] TO: [an identified individual]… [6] FROM: [an identified individual] TO: [an identified individual]… [7] FROM: [an identified individual] TO: [an identified individual]… The Town provided responses on February 27, 2026, March 3, 2026, March 23, 2026, and provided a fee estimate on March 25, 2026. Unsatisfied with the Town’s responses, Mr. McLeod petitioned this office and this appeal, SPR26/1144, was opened as a result. 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). The Town’s Responses In its February 27, 2026 response, a representative for the Town stated, “[m]y IT Director informs me that conducting a search of our email server for the requested records in the manner you are requesting will take approximately 4 hours. This is simply to cull the records from the server. Additional time will be required to review the records to determine responsiveness and whether any records can be excluded based on exemption. The statue requires the first two hours to be provided free of charge. At $25.00 per hour, the search will cost $50.00. If you would like to proceed, please provide payment to the Select Board office. Once payment is received, we can continue to process your request, and provide you with an estimated cost to complete the remainder.” In a March 11, 2026 correspondence to the Town, Mr. McLeod stated, “[t]he $50 payment was made today and I was issued a receipt by your front desk.”

Mark J. Purple SPR26/1144 Page 3 April 9, 2026 In its March 23, 2026 response, a representative for the Town stated the following: Here are the results of our search for records responsive to your request. [Part B][:] B7 101[;] B6 6[;] B5 0[;] B4 4[;] B3 5[;] B2 14[;][and] B1 3[;] [Part A][:] A1 0[;] A2 23[;] A3 7[;] A4 2[;] A5 0[;] A6 16[;] [and] A7 1[;] Please confirm if you would like all responsive records produced, and we will provide you a cost estimate for that portion of the work. In a March 27, 2026 correspondence to the Town, Mr. McLeod stated, “[p]lease provide all responsive documents.” In its March 25, 2026 response, the Town provided a fee estimate of $112.50 and stated the following: After a reasonable search the Town has identified 179 documents responsive to your request, which you have indicated that you are interested in all of those documents. Please be aware that the Town may charge for any time expended as consistent with the Public Records Improvement Act. See G.L. c. 66, § 10(d); 950 CMR 32.07(2) (record custodian permitted to charge $0.05 per doublesided page for black and white photocopies, and up to $25.00 per hour for every hour of actual work preparing documents in excess of two hours). Please mail to my attention a check payable to the Town of Southborough in the amount of $112.50, representing the Town’s labor fee ($25 per hour for 4.5 hours). The check should be mailed to the Town of Southborough…. Once we have received payment, we will process your request for public records referenced above. In an additional March 25, 2026 response, a representative for the Town stated, “[t]he amount that you were charged for responsive records under PRR #26-18 was not representative of the amount of time it actually took to fulfill the request. The current amount requested is more accurate to the time it takes to complete the request.” Current Appeal In his March 29, 2026 appeal, Mr. McLeod stated the following: …I respectfully request that the Supervisor find the Town’s estimate unreasonable and order the Town to provide a revised, good faith estimate supported by a detailed, task-based explanation of the time required… Before providing responsive record counts, the Town required a prepayment of $50.00 per request, representing two billable hours of IT staff time beyond the

Mark J. Purple SPR26/1144 Page 4 April 9, 2026 statutory two-hour threshold. The Town therefore attributed four total hours of staff time to each preliminary search. These searches involved only sender, recipient, and date range parameters. They did not require keyword development, content review, or any determination of responsiveness. They are properly characterized as mechanical retrieval tasks. The Town has provided no description of the steps performed, no breakdown of time by task, and no explanation for how these queries required four hours of staff time per request. In the absence of such an explanation, the estimate does not reflect a demonstrable, good faith assessment of actual time as required by 950 CMR 32.07(2). Because these fees have already been paid, I respectfully request that the Supervisor order reimbursement of the $100.00 in preliminary search fees unless the Town provides a specific, task-based justification demonstrating that four hours of work per request was reasonably required… Fee Waivers G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(v) provides the following with respect to waiving a fee for the production of responsive records: the records access officer may waive or reduce the amount of any fee charged under this subsection upon a showing that disclosure of a requested record is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government and is not primarily in the commercial interest of the requestor, or upon a showing that the requestor lacks the financial ability to pay the full amount of the reasonable fee. Please be advised, although the Supervisor may encourage fees to be waived, the Supervisor may not mandate that a records access officer waive fees assess for complying with a public records request; rather, as described above, the records access officer may waive or reduce the amount of any fee upon a showing of various factors. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(v); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.07(2)(k). Reasonableness of the Fee Estimate Although the Town has estimated that it requires 4.5 hours to produce 179 responsive records, it is unclear from the Town’s estimate how much time is allocated to the process of compiling, reviewing, and preparing the responsive records versus how much time is allocated for segregation and/or redaction of the records. Additionally, the Town must provide further details regarding the tasks involved and what each task entails, including the time it is allocating to segregating and redacting the requested records. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(d)(iv) (requiring the

Mark J. Purple SPR26/1144 Page 5 April 9, 2026 amount of the fee be reasonable). Further, the Town is advised, in accordance with the Public Records Law, 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). Consequently, if the Town intends to segregate and/or redact the records, it must clarify whether the redactions are required by law, and state the applicable statutes, if any. For the reasons discussed above, I find the Town must revise its fee estimate or provide further explanation of how the fee estimate of $112.50 is consistent with G. L. c. 66, § 10(d). This office encourages Mr. McLeod and the Town to communicate further 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 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 municipality to produce the records sought more efficiently and affordably). Any revision to the request would result in the requirement to issue a revised fee estimate. Conclusion Accordingly, the Town is ordered to provide Mr. McLeod 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. Mr. McLeod may appeal the substantive nature of the Town’s response within ninety (90) days. See 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Sincerely, Manza Arthur Supervisor of Records cc: Spencer McLeod