ISD citations and penalties against property owners
| Submitted | Oct. 23, 2021 |
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Communications
From: Chris Dwan
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:
Any documents summarizing fines, citations, and other penalties imposed by the city (any department) for infractions of state and local law by Somerville property owners.
I am particularly interested in citations issued and penalties assessed against landlords for violations that impact quality of life for their tenants. Examples include citations for illegal lease terms, harassment, violations of health and safety codes, and so on.
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 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Chris Dwan
From: City of Somerville - Records Access Officer
Good Afternoon,
This email acknowledges receipt of your public records request below dated October 23, 2021, for records of ISD fines/penalties issued to property owners. On behalf of the Records Access Officer and Records Custodian, attached is a report generated out of the Citizenserve platform of tickets generated out of the system from ISD, sorted by date of issuance in PDF format, which should be responsive to your request. The report includes the code citation, descriptions of code citation, and amount of the fine.
Please be advised the issuance dates go back as far as the Citizenserve system was utilized in mid-2014. Please be further advised for the tickets issued through September 12, 2014, that the issuing department field was not utilized, and thus are marked N/A for 'Issue Department', however it is my understanding that the issuing department for those tickets was ISD.
There is no charge associated with this request. This e-mail completes the City's response to your request.
To the extent your records request has been denied you have the right to seek an administrative appeal to the Supervisor of Public Records under 950 CMR 32.08(1) and the right to seek judicial review by commencing a civil action in the superior court.
Respectfully,
A. Matthew Zaino
ISD Paralegal
City of Somerville
Business Hrs.: M-W 8-4; Th 8-7; F 8-12
From: Chris Dwan
Hi,
Thanks so much for your help with this request! I really appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Chris Dwan
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