If Lowell is your home, this is your place

FYI: Under the Massachusetts Public Records Law (MGL c. 66, section 10), the City of Lowell is LEGALLY EMPOWERED to protect its HARDWORKING TAXPAYERS' budget by shifting the entire financial burden of this MASSIVE 2-YEAR request back onto Markley. Because Markley is a commercial entity, the city can charge for the actual time city employees spend searching, compiling, and segregating files, “capped at the hourly rate of the lowest paid worker capable of performing the task (up to $25 per hour)”. Furthermore, because the BIG, HUGE task targets highly sensitive communications surrounding an active lawsuit, the city can petition the state Supervisor of Records to charge a higher hourly rate for the specialized legal review needed to redact privileged information. To ensure the city DOESN'T SPEND A SINGLE DIME upfront, the City’s “Records Access Officer”, working along with the Law Department, can issue an itemized “Good-Faith Estimate” to Markley’s law firm, Choate, and the city is FULLY AUTHORIZED to DEMAND FULL PAYMENT of this total before even pulling a single email, text message, or written correspondence from January 1, 2024, to the present!