Town of Milton Planner William Clark Communications

Dear CAP Equality:
Thank you for your interest in public records of Town of Milton. Your request has been received and is being processed in accordance with the Massachusetts State Public Records Law. Your request was received in this office on 3/3/2020 and given the reference number T000213-030320 for tracking purposes. Records Requested: Dear Clerk Galvin:

Effective January 1, 2017, the Massachusetts Public Records Law, MGL Ch. 66 and Ch. 4§7(26) provides that a municipality must, within 10 business days (Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays), respond to a request for records by providing access to or a copy of such records, or explaining any delay or denial.

Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law (M.G.L. c.66, §10 and Ch. 4§7(26)) I hereby make this request concerning William Clark, currently the Director of Planning & Community Development for the town of Milton, as follows:

(all search terms or phrases are case insensitive)
a. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. William (aka Bill) Clark (hereinafter "Mr. Clark") containing the phrase “Local Initiative Project” or “LIP”;*
b. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the term “40B”;
c. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the term “40R”;
d. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the phrase “Adams Court”;
e. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the phrase “East Milton Square”;
f. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the term “Schmidt”;
g. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the term “Falconi”;
h. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the term “Corcoran”;
i. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark to or from the email address mmcettrick@gmail.com;
j. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the term “Franklin Street”;
k. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark via other email accounts for each of the above requests, if they in any way relate to public business;
l. all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark on other email accounts (personal or otherwise) that relate to public business;
m. all text messages sent to or received by Mr. Clark that relate to public business

Requests (a)-(k) concern Mr. Clark's townofmilton.org email account or other Town of Milton/public email addresses.

I also request that 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 and is made in the process of potential news gathering and not for commercial usage.

In the event that fees cannot be waived, 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, if available.

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,

CAP Equality

Upload documents directly: https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://www.muckrock.com/ Your request will be forwarded to the relevant department(s) to locate the information you seek and to determine the volume and any costs associated with satisfying your request. You will be contacted about the availability and/or provided with copies of the records in question. PLEASE NOTE: The Massachusetts State Public Records Law does not require a governmental body to create new information.
You can monitor the progress of your request at the link below and you'll receive an email when your request has been completed. Again, thank you for using the Public Records Center. Town of Milton
To monitor the progress or update this request please log into the Public Records Center. (https://u8387795.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=nZGH0ylxadMp5hTpNkeAFrHyZCmspf6t87qRwppsznVGEJmtadWkAFyuEYdJdJMw45CLOxAfMHz8Dtw7PJwBjGMm-2FLTIrdKXNG64NNCD9wLYvyZyjRwbMNbh82EmDz8U4Jgs_y0WdF-2FjKGXd9Jr-2FaWyGmEU6Q1gEnblLlLR9X6SJ-2B053TnOkQQtt3t01WsAqqeV-2FiTZseh9ZQW3Yd7wNWrMncsknnM7td8dLYjNFyjvvKghFLT7pFK9nDDSwNdaMROfuFQ43eCcxZBv9Fcac1Lumuo2Bi2frtJMWwwTrJ7ULV-2BffoqHh82QfRfhD8zIt5m-2FzLaHnwvHh5bTyDnxJOjAmYHwhsWcypAb64VseeqWspnVXVoJZrrtNEWWZWGLt3Kg1fpE3GPzzo-2Bnd0kH2zJs8OH8Ve-2BQ472yuqgxVeYmcD2dtHYAtHr6IpKXoXlHZ-2FNawjbdtBQ56X6kqTV-2BbitGjfbgNXGtjyvAmvDxyInUZIWPhHeV4iZufPWsSPCMKJNtbsTe-2FZLE2xzEbVhr79Zh-2FDHJ0WIFG6X1HoaCPFl5l5m-2B8-3D)

--- Please respond above this line ---

April 23, 2020 EMAIL ONLY
CAP Equality
RE: Request Dated March 3, 2020
To Whom It May Concern: The following is a response to your request dated March 3, 2020 (the “Request”) in accordance with G.L. c. 66, §10.
As an initial matter, please be advised that the Town Offices in the Town of Milton have been closed to the public since March 17, 2020 due to outbreak of COVID-19. While a records access officer must respond to a request for public records within 10 business days, a business day does not include a weekday where a custodian’s office is unexpectedly closed. SPR20/0589 citing G. L. c. 66, § 10(a); 950 C.M.R. 32.02. Consequently, I believe that the time period to respond to the Request has been tolled. Nevertheless, the following response is being provided in accordance with G.L. c. 66, §10.
In the Request you seek the following:
I hereby make this request concerning William Clark, currently the Director of Planning & Community Development for the town of Milton, as follows: (all search terms or phrases are case insensitive) a. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. William (aka Bill) Clark (hereinafter "Mr. Clark") containing the phrase “Local Initiative Project” or “LIP”;* b. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the term “40B”; c. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the term “40R”; d. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the phrase “Adams Court”; e. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the phrase “East Milton Square”; f. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the term “Schmidt”; g. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the term “Falconi”; h. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the term “Corcoran”; i. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark to or from the email address mmcettrick@gmail.com; j. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the term “Franklin Street”; k. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark via other email accounts for each of the above requests, if they in any way relate to public business; l. all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark on other email accounts (personal or otherwise) that relate to public business; m. all text messages sent to or received by Mr. Clark that relate to public business Requests (a)-(k) concern Mr. Clark's townofmilton.org email account or other Town of Milton/public email addresses.
Please be advised that the Request does not comply with the Public Records Law. A public record request must reasonably describe the records sought. See SPR20/0058 citing G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(i). In a recent case, the Superior Court found that under the Public Records Law "[t]he reasonable description requirement contemplates that a requesting party will identify documents or categories of documents with sufficient particularity that government employees will be able to understand exactly what they are looking for, and then make a prompt production." See Jaideep Chawla v. Dep't of Revenue, Suffolk. Sup. No. l 784CV02087, at 2 (January 23, 2019). The court further indicated that "[r]equests for documents that are articulated with very broad language that calls upon non-lawyer administrative personnel to interpret the scope of what is sought, and then make fine judgments about what documents are and are not sufficiently 'related' to the category of materials requested, will Id. not satisfy this statutory standard."
The Request does not reasonably describe the records you seek for several reasons, including, but not limited to the following. First the Request does not provide any specific time period. Consequently, the Request encompass the entire time period during which Mr. Clark has worked for the Town of Milton, which includes March of 2007 to present. Second, although the Request includes specific search terms, including “Local Initiative Project” ,“LIP”, “40B” and “40R”, those terms are very common in the context of town planning and records concerning same. Third, the Request includes “email and attachments” “that relate to public business”. The phrase “that relate to public business” is very broad language that calls upon non-lawyer administrative personnel to interpret the scope of what is sought in the Request and then make fine judgments about what documents are and are not sufficiently 'related' to the category of materials requested. See Jaideep Chawla, (2019). It therefore does not satisfy the statutory criteria set forth in G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(i).
For these reasons, the Request does not comply with the Public Records Law and therefore no response is required. Notwithstanding the foregoing, an initial search has been conducted for responsive records. That search revealed that the Town of Milton is in possession of approximately 30,000 emails, some with attachments, which may be responsive to the Request. That large number demonstrates the lack of a reasonable description in the Request for the records that are being sought. Nevertheless, the following good faith fee estimate is hereby provided. Moreover, while the Request does not appear to have been designed to harass the Town of Milton, the effect of the Request will be to cause significant additional strain on the Town’s already limited and strained resources. Fee Estimate
A records access officer 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 records sought in the Request, which are primarily emails, are not freely available for public inspection. Therefore a reasonable fee will be charged for the production of the records sought in the Request.
If a municipality is required to devote more than two (2) hours of employee time to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce a record requested, the records access officer 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 the record requested. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d )(iii). The records here must be segregated in order to determine whether any statutory exemptions apply or if any of the documents are subject to the attorney-client privilege. In this case, the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the record requested is a salaried employee whose effective hourly rate exceeds $25 per hour. Notwithstanding that rate, a rate of $25 per hour will be used to calculate the following fee estimate. Assuming that it will take approximately sixty (60) seconds to review, segregate and possibly redact each of the 30,000 records, it will take approximately 500 hours to review all of the records. That review process could take months to complete.  Those tasks will be performed either by me or the Assistant Town Clerk Gayle Neville.  Both of us are salaried employees whose effective hourly rates exceed $25 per hour.  Nonetheless, we will only charge you $25 per hour to perform the services described above.  In accordance with 950 CMR 37.02(2)(m)(1) you will not be charged for the first two (2) hours of those services.
Four hundred and ninety-eight (498) hours multiplied by $25 per hour yields a fee estimate of $12,450. Furthermore, please be advised that the actual fee to produce these records may vary based on the actual time needed to review these records.
Please be advised that we will not begin to review the records which we have initially been compiled until we receive a check in the amount of $12,450. Furthermore, please be advised that the actual fee may vary based on the actual time it will take to complete a response to the Request.
I am happy to work with you to narrow the scope of the Request in order to reduce the fee estimate stated above. One way to reduce the fee estimate may be to limit the Request to a specific time period. You may also choose to limit the Request to certain 40B projects by name. Please feel free to email me so that we can arrange a time to discuss these and other possibilities. Right of Appeal
You have the right of appeal to the supervisor of records under subsection (a) of section 10A and the right to seek judicial review of an unfavorable decision by commencing a civil action in the superior court under subsection (c) of section10A. Respectfully, Susan Galvin Milton Town Clerk/Records Access Officer

--- Please respond above this line ---

April 23, 2020 EMAIL ONLY
CAP Equality
RE: Request Dated March 3, 2020
To Whom It May Concern: The following is a response to your request dated March 3, 2020 (the “Request”) in accordance with G.L. c. 66, §10.
As an initial matter, please be advised that the Town Offices in the Town of Milton have been closed to the public since March 17, 2020 due to outbreak of COVID-19. While a records access officer must respond to a request for public records within 10 business days, a business day does not include a weekday where a custodian’s office is unexpectedly closed. SPR20/0589 citing G. L. c. 66, § 10(a); 950 C.M.R. 32.02. Consequently, I believe that the time period to respond to the Request has been tolled. Nevertheless, the following response is being provided in accordance with G.L. c. 66, §10.
In the Request you seek the following:
I hereby make this request concerning William Clark, currently the Director of Planning & Community Development for the town of Milton, as follows: (all search terms or phrases are case insensitive) a. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. William (aka Bill) Clark (hereinafter "Mr. Clark") containing the phrase “Local Initiative Project” or “LIP”;* b. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the term “40B”; c. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the term “40R”; d. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the phrase “Adams Court”; e. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the phrase “East Milton Square”; f. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the term “Schmidt”; g. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the term “Falconi”; h. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the term “Corcoran”; i. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark to or from the email address mmcettrick@gmail.com; j. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark containing the term “Franklin Street”; k. Any and all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark via other email accounts for each of the above requests, if they in any way relate to public business; l. all emails (and all attachments thereto) sent to or received by Mr. Clark on other email accounts (personal or otherwise) that relate to public business; m. all text messages sent to or received by Mr. Clark that relate to public business Requests (a)-(k) concern Mr. Clark's townofmilton.org email account or other Town of Milton/public email addresses.
Please be advised that the Request does not comply with the Public Records Law. A public record request must reasonably describe the records sought. See SPR20/0058 citing G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(i). In a recent case, the Superior Court found that under the Public Records Law "[t]he reasonable description requirement contemplates that a requesting party will identify documents or categories of documents with sufficient particularity that government employees will be able to understand exactly what they are looking for, and then make a prompt production." See Jaideep Chawla v. Dep't of Revenue, Suffolk. Sup. No. l 784CV02087, at 2 (January 23, 2019). The court further indicated that "[r]equests for documents that are articulated with very broad language that calls upon non-lawyer administrative personnel to interpret the scope of what is sought, and then make fine judgments about what documents are and are not sufficiently 'related' to the category of materials requested, will Id. not satisfy this statutory standard."
The Request does not reasonably describe the records you seek for several reasons, including, but not limited to the following. First the Request does not provide any specific time period. Consequently, the Request encompass the entire time period during which Mr. Clark has worked for the Town of Milton, which includes March of 2007 to present. Second, although the Request includes specific search terms, including “Local Initiative Project” ,“LIP”, “40B” and “40R”, those terms are very common in the context of town planning and records concerning same. Third, the Request includes “email and attachments” “that relate to public business”. The phrase “that relate to public business” is very broad language that calls upon non-lawyer administrative personnel to interpret the scope of what is sought in the Request and then make fine judgments about what documents are and are not sufficiently 'related' to the category of materials requested. See Jaideep Chawla, (2019). It therefore does not satisfy the statutory criteria set forth in G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(i).
For these reasons, the Request does not comply with the Public Records Law and therefore no response is required. Notwithstanding the foregoing, an initial search has been conducted for responsive records. That search revealed that the Town of Milton is in possession of approximately 30,000 emails, some with attachments, which may be responsive to the Request. That large number demonstrates the lack of a reasonable description in the Request for the records that are being sought. Nevertheless, the following good faith fee estimate is hereby provided. Moreover, while the Request does not appear to have been designed to harass the Town of Milton, the effect of the Request will be to cause significant additional strain on the Town’s already limited and strained resources. Fee Estimate
A records access officer 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 records sought in the Request, which are primarily emails, are not freely available for public inspection. Therefore a reasonable fee will be charged for the production of the records sought in the Request.
If a municipality is required to devote more than two (2) hours of employee time to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce a record requested, the records access officer 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 the record requested. G. L. c. 66, § 10(d )(iii). The records here must be segregated in order to determine whether any statutory exemptions apply or if any of the documents are subject to the attorney-client privilege. In this case, the lowest paid employee who has the necessary skill required to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce the record requested is a salaried employee whose effective hourly rate exceeds $25 per hour. Notwithstanding that rate, a rate of $25 per hour will be used to calculate the following fee estimate. Assuming that it will take approximately sixty (60) seconds to review, segregate and possibly redact each of the 30,000 records, it will take approximately 500 hours to review all of the records. That review process could take months to complete.  Those tasks will be performed either by me or the Assistant Town Clerk Gayle Neville.  Both of us are salaried employees whose effective hourly rates exceed $25 per hour.  Nonetheless, we will only charge you $25 per hour to perform the services described above.  In accordance with 950 CMR 37.02(2)(m)(1) you will not be charged for the first two (2) hours of those services.
Four hundred and ninety-eight (498) hours multiplied by $25 per hour yields a fee estimate of $12,450. Furthermore, please be advised that the actual fee to produce these records may vary based on the actual time needed to review these records.
Please be advised that we will not begin to review the records which we have initially been compiled until we receive a check in the amount of $12,450. Furthermore, please be advised that the actual fee may vary based on the actual time it will take to complete a response to the Request.
I am happy to work with you to narrow the scope of the Request in order to reduce the fee estimate stated above. One way to reduce the fee estimate may be to limit the Request to a specific time period. You may also choose to limit the Request to certain 40B projects by name. Please feel free to email me so that we can arrange a time to discuss these and other possibilities. Right of Appeal
You have the right of appeal to the supervisor of records under subsection (a) of section 10A and the right to seek judicial review of an unfavorable decision by commencing a civil action in the superior court under subsection (c) of section10A. Respectfully, Susan Galvin Milton Town Clerk/Records Access Officer