Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 950 CMR - OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH › Title 950 CMR 32.00 - Public Records Access › Section 32.04 - Records Access Officers

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1) Each agency and
			 municipality shall designate one or more employees as records access
			 officer(s).
(2) In a municipality,
			 the municipal clerk, or the clerk's designees, or any designee of a
			 municipality that the chief executive officer of the municipality may appoint,
			 shall serve as records access officers.
(3) The designation of a records access
			 officer shall not be construed to prohibit employees who have been previously
			 authorized by the agency or municipality to make public records or information
			 available to the public from continuing to do so in accordance with
			 950 CMR
			 32.00.
(4)
			 Each agency and municipality shall post in a conspicuous location at its
			 offices and on its website, if any, the name, title, business address, business
			 telephone number, and business email address of each records access
			 officer.
(5) A records access
			 officer shall:
(a) coordinate the custodian's
			 response to requests for access to public records and shall facilitate the
			 resolution of such requests by the timely and thorough production of public
			 records;
(b) assist persons seeking
			 public records to identify the records sought;
(c) assist the custodian in preserving public
			 records in accordance with all applicable laws, rules, regulations and
			 retention schedules;
(d) to the
			 extent feasible, provide public records to a requester in electronic format
			 unless the record is not available in electronic form or the requester does not
			 have the ability to receive or access the records in electronic format and if
			 feasible, in the requester's preferred format. In the absence of a preferred
			 format, the records shall be provided in a searchable machine-readable form;
Where the requester is an individual held in custody in any
				correctional facility, as defined in M.G.L. c. 125, § 1(d), the records
				access officer shall presume that the requester does not have the ability to
				receive or access records in usable electronic form;
(e) to the extent feasible, furnish the
			 public records by providing reasonable assistance in locating the records on an
			 appropriately indexed and searchable public website;
(f) prepare guidelines of the agency or
			 municipality that enable the person seeking access to public records in the
			 custody of the agency or municipality to make informed requests regarding the
			 availability of such public records electronically or otherwise. The guidelines
			 shall include a list of categories of public records maintained by the agency
			 or municipality and such list shall be updated periodically; each agency or
			 municipality that maintains a website shall post the guidelines on its website;
			 and
(g) a municipal records access
			 officer shall, to the extent feasible, post commonly available public record
			 documents on a website maintained by the municipality. The website copy shall
			 not be deemed the record copy for retention purposes.