Gas leaks policies and data - Middlesex County (Belmont Town Clerk)
| Submitted | Jan. 5, 2017 |
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Communications
From: Beryl Lipton
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c.66, §10, I hereby request the following records:
Any and all directive materials and data regarding the location and repair of gas leaks within this municipality.
Please include any ordinances, policies, procedures, or related materials regarding:
• the necessity of gas companies to report existing gas leaks to municipal officials
• the necessity of gas companies to survey areas for the existence of gas leaks
• the necessity of gas companies to repair known gas leaks
Please also include any data, statistics, maps, and other materials detailing the location and severity of known gas leaks in the areas under the jurisdiction of this municipality. Please include any data acquired from the Department of Public Utilities regarding gas leaks within this municipality.
Please include all requests from gas companies for construction and digging related to gas leaks.
Please include all requests for repair made by this municipality to companies regarding gas leaks. Please also provide all responses.
Please provide all data, statistics, maps, and other materials regarding the decay or destruction of trees and other foliage in relation to the presence of gas leaks.
If further clarification is necessary, please contact the MuckRock office at 617-299-1832.
I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.
I expect the request to be filled in an accessible format, including for screen readers, which provide text-to-speech for persons unable to read print. Files that are not accessible to screen readers include, for example, .pdf image files as well as physical documents.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Beryl Lipton
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Jan. 5, 2017. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Cushman, Ellen
VIA Email
To : requests@muckrock.com
MuckRock
DEPT MR 31628
411A Highland Ave
Somerville, MA 02144-2516
Dear Beryl Lipton
The Town of Belmont received your Public Records Request of Janury 5, 2017.by email and will examine it for fulfillment per MGL C. 66 and Chapter 121, Acts of 2016. I am the Records Access Officer for the Town of Belmont.
If the request is “reasonably described” and production of the records can occur within ten business days, and there will be no charge for the records, we will forward the records to you electronically.
If the request is “reasonably described” and production of the records requires more than the ten business days to produce or there will be a fee for production of the records, we will provide the supporting details and, if a fee, we require payment prior to delivery of the records.
If the request is not considered “reasonably described”, we will send you a request for further refinement of your request so that fulfillment will provide the records you truly seek.
Sincerely,
Ellen O'Brien Cushman
Town Clerk
455 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
phone: 617-993-2604
email: ecushman@belmont-ma.gov<mailto:ecushman@belmont-ma.gov>
All email messages and attached content sent from and to this email account are public records unless qualified as exempt under the Massachusetts Public Records Law<http://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/preidx.htm>.
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From: Cushman, Ellen
Dear Beryl Lipton,
As Records Access Officer for the Town of Belmont, I write to inform you that per Chapter 121 of the Acts of 2016, Section 10, (b) (vii), I request further definition of the scope of time for records encompassed by your request. Specifically, your request indicates the following:
Any and all directive materials and data regarding the location and repair of gas leaks within this municipality. …
Please include all requests from gas companies for construction and digging related to gas leaks.
Please include all requests for repair made by this municipality to companies regarding gas leaks. Please also provide all responses.
Please provide all data, statistics, maps, and other materials regarding the decay or destruction of trees and other foliage in relation to the presence of gas leaks.
Per your statement that you believe that “this request is in the public interest”, we herein ask you to provide a specific timeframe of years, for example 2013 to present, 2011 to present for each of the items shown above in red, for which you have requested “all” documents. The Town of Belmont was incorporated in 1859, and records exist in many different forms and places. Your response to this request to narrow the timeframe will significantly impact our ability to respond within the ten days and of course the assessment of any related fees.
Thank you for your consideration of this request. I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Ellen O'Brien Cushman
Town Clerk
455 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
phone: 617-993-2604
email: ecushman@belmont-ma.gov<mailto:ecushman@belmont-ma.gov>
All email messages and attached content sent from and to this email account are public records unless qualified as exempt under the Massachusetts Public Records Law<http://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/preidx.htm>.
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From: Beryl Lipton
Hello Ms. Cushman,
Thanks so much for your message. Feel free to limit this request to January 1, 2014 through today and please do get in touch if there's anything else I can do to clarify.
Best wishes,
Beryl
From: Cushman, Ellen
ShareFile Attachments
Expires July 19, 2017
911 Belmont Dispatch Response to Report ...Mgr.pdf
34.9 KB
911 Belmont Dispatch Response to Report o...ief.pdf
68.5 KB
911 Dispatch Responsive Documents, Gas L...est.pdf
19.2 MB
911 Reports, Responsive Gas Leaks, Odors.pdf
1.7 MB
Facilities Mgr Responsive Documents, Gas Leaks.zip
148.8 KB
Fire Chief Responsive Documents, Gas Lea...dor.msg
1.4 MB
Police Chief Responsive Documents, Gas Lea...est.txt
37.8 KB
Street Opening Permit Excel Column_Headi...17.xlsx
11.7 KB
Street Opening Permits - Pub_Rec_Req_NG..._DF.csv
71.1 KB
Street Opening Permits -Pub_Rec_Req_NG..._DF.csv
72.5 KB
Download Attachments<https://belmont-ma.sharefile.com/d/s2e04de337154e1ba>
Ellen Cushman uses ShareFile to share documents securely. Learn More.<https://www.sharefile.com/?src=system-email-outlookplugin-new&utm_medium=system-email&utm_source=outlookplugin-new>
Dear Beryl,
As Records Access Officer for the Town of Belmont, I herein attach the following documents in response to your Public Records Request, attached below, received January 5th, further narrowed as amended by you on January 18, 2017:
Extracts from Email Notification System from National Grid to Belmont officials (Police Chief Richard McLaughlin, Fire Chief and 911 Dispatch)
Excels from our Street Opening Permit software for all street openings/construction and digging related to gas leaks, including a separate Excel with the full title headings of the extracts.
In addition, I provide:
· an extracted list of all calls to Belmont's 911 system indicating an odor of gas/ gas leak and the established protocols/procedure followed by the 911 system Dispatchers and the responsive Fire personnel to immediately notify National Grid of the reports as a request for investigation by National Grid. Although this list is not specifically required by your Public Records Request, we provide it to display the routine follow up of these reports to the 911 System.
· Flow of the 911 Belmont Dispatch Call to report Odor of Gas or Gas Leak from 911 Belmont Dispatch Operations Manager
· Flow of the 911 Belmont Dispatch Call to report Odor of Gas or Gas Leak from Belmont from Fire Chief
Extract from our Facilities Manager , Gerry Boyle, of all emails on behalf of the Town of Belmont to National Grid requesting repairs of gas leaks.
Belmont has no documents "regarding the decay or destruction of trees and other foliage in relation to the presence of gas leaks".
I consider this fulfillment of your Public Records Request of January 5, 2017 , as further amended on January 18, 2017.
Should you have any questions about these documents, please contact me directly, my contact information follows:
Ellen O'Brien Cushman
Town Clerk
455 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
phone: 617-993-2604
email: ecushman@belmont-ma.gov<mailto:ecushman@belmont-ma.gov>
All email messages and attached content sent from and to this email account are public records unless qualified as exempt under the Massachusetts Public Records Law<http://www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/preidx.htm>.
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