Gas leaks policies and data - Middlesex County (Westford Town Clerk (MA))

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

Hi there,

Thank you so much for your time this morning. To clarify our conversation from this morning, I wanted to send along this note reiterating some of the materials I'm after. As I mentioned, materials from January 1, 2015 through the date this request is processed would be great.

I'm interested in both calls and complaints from gas companies and residents regarding the existence, location, treatment, and effects of gas leaks in your municipality. Firstly, I would like any available location data you may have regarding the location and severity of known gas leaks in your area; this information may have come to you by way of gas companies or via the Department of Public Utilities. I would also be interested in any logs held by the Highway Department, the Fire Department, or any other relevant department regarding calls and complaints pertaining to gas leaks; this may include unsubstantiated complaints. However, I would also like any logs detailing street openings or requests for street openings, the reason for the request (of course, including whether that reason was a gas leak), and the status of that request (confirmed, denied, etc.). Further, if there are any policies, procedures, or other directives related to the coordination or treatment of gas leaks, I would like those as well. Finally, any information your tree warden may have regarding the relationship between gas leaks and trees in your area would be much appreciated; this may include a log of tree destruction and treatment and the reason such treatment was necessary. As with the other logs, no particular segregation or redaction is necessary, though I would appreciate any direction available on differentiating gas leak-related requests from all others.

Thanks so much for your help, and please let me know if you have any other questions!

Best wishes,
Beryl

Kaari,

Thank you so much for these. I really appreciate the help.

Hope you have a lovely weekend,
Beryl