Mr. Bahnan,

As I'm sure you are aware, the supervisor of records makes decisions on a case-by-case basis using the specific facts of the case at hand. The ruling you have cited is not related to my request. I do not have the full correspondence related to the ruling you have cited — only the ruling itself — and therefore I do not know the full context. I am not sure why the supervisor ruled in the city's favor in that case, but I can only assume that he found there were "exceptional circumstances" that warranted allowing the city to charge "$40.00 per hour for staff attorneys and a higher rate for technical professionals."

However, in this case, you have not specified any "exceptional circumstances" that would necessitate the city using higher paid employees to provide these records. Please recalculate your fee estimate using the rate of the lowest paid employee in City Hall or explain the "exceptional circumstances" that require you to use the higher paid employees.

Additionally, you have refused to explain how many hours you expect this request to take or the exact amount of money the city pays the employees who would fulfill it. It appears to be your contention that you do not need to provide this information. However, I'm sure you or someone else you work with knows this information, so I would very much appreciate it if you would provide it anyway, if only as a courtesy. If you are not aware of this information, I would appreciate it if you found out for me.

Additionally, it has come to my attention that the Boston Police Department only charges $15 per hour to provide copies of records. You can see an example of that here: https://www.muckrock.com/foi/massachusetts-1/emails-between-boston-police-department-and-national-security-agency-12297/#comm-105895

If it is your contention that City Hall's highly paid staff attorneys and "technical professionals" are the only employees capable of searching for and segregating emails, perhaps you can request that the police department lends one of its workers to fulfill this request at the cost of $15 an hour. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's my belief that the police department uses the same email system as City Hall.

Lastly, I would like clarification on another point. In your fee estimate, you stated that the fee was to cover "search, **segregation**, review, and copying of each email" (emphasis added). However, you have not cited any exemptions to the public records law. Will you be segregating the records or was that a mistake like when you said the fee included the copying cost? As I'm sure you are aware, the supervisor's "Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law" states (page 2, emphasis added):

"A records custodian’s response must be in writing. The response must include a good faith estimate of any cost of providing the record. **The response must also include a specific exemption to the Public Records Law** to justify the denial of access to any record."

I am eagerly awaiting your clarification on these matters.