Public Records Access Guidelines

TOWN OF WEYMOUTH
PUBLIC RECORDS ACCESS GUIDELINES

Pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 121 of the Acts of 2016 (“An Act to Improve Public Records”), significant changes were made to the Public Records Law which became effective 1, 2017.  The Supervisor of Records has promulgated regulations to implement the new law which further required the Town of Weymouth to establish the following guidelines to assist requesters in making informed requests and post such guidelines on our municipal website. 

SUMMARY OF NEW PROVISIONS

• Records Access Officer – Municipalities are required to designate one or more Records Access Officers (RAO).  The RAO has a duty to:

• Coordinate the municipality’s response to request for access to public records;
• Assist individuals seeking public records in identifying the records requested;
• Assist the custodian of records in preserving public records;
• Prepare guidelines that enable requesters to make informed requests.

The Town of Weymouth (Town) designated the Town Clerk as it’s RAO:

Town Clerk’ s Office - Weymouth Town Hall
75 Middle Street
Weymouth, MA  02189
Email: townclerk@weymouth.ma.us
Phone:  (781) 340-5017           Fax:  (781) 682-6129

• Electronic Records – RAOs must provide public records to a requester in an electronic format unless the record is not available in an electronic format or the requestor does not have the ability to receive or access the records in a usable electronic format.
• Response Time – The RAO must permit for inspection, furnish a copy of a requested public record or deny request in writing citing with specificity application of exemptions within 10 business days following receipt of the request.  RAOs may petition the Supervisor of Records for an extension if they are unable to grant access to the requested public records in this time period.
• Fees – The Supervisor of Records’ Public Access Regulations allows record custodians to charge $0.05 cents for black and white and $0.50 cents for color paper copies or computer printouts of public records for both single or double-sided sheets.

If a response to a public records request requires more than 2 hours of employee time, the Town may assess a fee of the hourly rate of the lowest paid employee with the skills necessary to search for, compile, segregate, redact or reproduce a requested record.The Fee shall not exceed $25.00 an hour, unless approved by the Supervisor of Records.

If fees are to be assessed, a written estimate of the same will be provided to the requestor.

GENERAL INFORMATION

• Town Hall Business Hours:  The regular business hours for the Town of Weymouth are:  Monday – Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Written requests received during regular business hours will be considered received on that date. Requests received outside of regular business hours (Monday – Friday, 8:30-4:30), during weekends or legal holidays, shall not be considered received until the following business day. 
• Although not required, it is strongly encouraged that public record requests be in writing to ensure the most efficient and accurate response.  All written public records requests, including via email, shall be addressed/directed to the RAO and contain the requester’s name and contact information to allow the RAO to provide the required response. 
• General information about the Public Records Law, requests and appeals, may be found in the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s “A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law,” January 2017 edition, found online at: www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/prepdf/guide.pdf.
• To facilitate timely responses, requests should be as specific as possible, detailing, if known, records custodian(s), dates and subject matter parameters.  The more specific the request, the better able the Town will be to respond, as broad requests often require more extensive staff efforts to locate and review possibly responsive records.  The requestor may be asked to clarify a request or to provide more specific detail in order for the Town to fully respond to the request.
• Depending on the scope, need for redactions or other complications, the requestor may be asked to agree to a voluntary extension of time for the Town to respond to the request or to clarify or provide more specific detail to the request.
• The Town of Weymouth maintains a searchable website at: www.weymouth.ma.us  where certain public records are available for inspection, downloading or printing.  If a request seeks documents publicly available on the Town’s website, the requestor will be directed to the website in satisfaction of the request, unless the requestor does not have the ability to receive or access the records in a usable electronic format.
• Should a requestor seek to have responsive records provided by mail, the requestor will be charged the actual cost of postage, using the least expensive form of mailing possible, unless the requestor requests and agrees to pay for, and expedited form of mailing and such fees are paid in advance.  The Town of Weymouth is only required to provide records that are in existence at the time of a request and is not required to create a new record to accommodate a specific request. 
• Some public records, or portions of records, may not be provided in response to a records request because the Town has determined such records to be exempt from public disclosure pursuant to the provisions of G.L. c. 4, §7(26), the attorney-client privilege, or other applicable exemptions or common law privileges.  For more information about exemptions, please refer to the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s “A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law”, January 2017 edition, available at www.sec.state.ma.us/pre/prepdf/guide.pdf.
• If you do not receive a satisfactory response or wish to challenge an estimate, you may Appeal to the Supervisor of Records in the Office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth or seek judicial review by commencing a civil action in Norfolk Superior Court.