New Bedford City Council

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c.66, §10, I hereby request the following records:

To whom it may concern,
Pursuant to Massachusetts General Law Chapter 66, Section 10, I'm requesting all executive session minutes generated, by the New Bedford City Council for the years 2010 through the of end 2015.
Massachusetts law requires that executive session minutes be reviewed and released regularly, and that once the stated purpose for a particular executive session has ended, the minutes of the executive sessions are to be made public. Once released, I plan to make the information available to the public online, free of charge.
Please be advised that denial of this request, or redactions made to released materials should be accompanied by citations of the exemptions you believe allow you to withhold the information requested.
I'm requesting that any fees be waived, as I believe the release of these materials is in the public interest, however, if fees cannot be waived, I ask that you include a good faith estimate of the anticipated fees in your response. I also request that the materials be provided electronically in an email attachment, or if that is not possible, on a CD-ROM. If neither of these options are available, I'd be happy to receive the documents via snail mail, or come to your municipal offices in person to pick them up.
If you are in need of any further clarification regarding this request, please do not hesitate to contact me at 774-634-6176 with your questions. If I do not pick up, please leave me a voicemail and I will be sure to get back to you. Thank you for your attention to this request.
Sincerely,
Caitlin Russell

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,

Caitlin Russell

Please disregard the last email. Here is my request:
To whom it may concern,
Pursuant to Massachusetts General Law Chapter 66, Section 10, I'm requesting all executive session minutes generated, by the New Bedford City Council for the years 2010 through the of end 2015.
Massachusetts law requires that executive session minutes be reviewed and released regularly, and that once the stated purpose for a particular executive session has ended, the minutes of the executive sessions are to be made public. Once released, I plan to make the information available to the public online, free of charge.
Please be advised that denial of this request, or redactions made to released materials must be accompanied by citations of the exemptions you believe allow you to withhold the information requested.
I'm requesting that any fees be waived, as I believe the release of these materials is in the public interest, however, if fees cannot be waived, I ask that you include a good faith estimate of the anticipated fees in your response. I also request that the materials be provided electronically in an email attachment, or if that is not possible, on a CD-ROM. If neither of these options are available, I'd be happy to receive the documents via snail mail, or come to your municipal offices in person to pick them up.
If you are in need of any further clarification regarding this request, please do not hesitate to contact me at 774-634-6176 with your questions. If I do not pick up, please leave me a voicemail and I will be sure to get back to you. Thank you for your attention to this request.
Sincerely,
Caitlin Russell

Thank you for getting back to me. Four pages over five years seems awfully low. Are these all of the executive session minutes that were generated from 2010-2015? If not, please provide a list of the meeting minutes withheld, and the public records law exemption that you are invoking to withhold those minutes. Thank you.