Public Records Request

Information for requesting public records



Requests for public records should be directed to the City's Official Records Access Officer as defined by Massachusetts General Law. The Official Records Access Officer for the City of Gardner is the City Clerk's Office.

Procedure: 



  • All public records requests should be sent to the City Clerk's Office to make the request official. This is done to streamline the process for the public so that all requests come through one channel and the official timeline is clearly set and seen by all parties involved. 
  • The City Clerk will then forward the request to the appropriate City personnel with the official timeline in which the request must be responded to. 
  • It is then the responsibility of the City Official/Employee/Personnel to produce the requested documents and respond to the individual making the request directly to the individual.  
  • If the requested documents require any redaction or legal review it is the responsibility of the City Official/Employee/Personnel to whom the request was sent to request the services of the City Law Department for review. 
  • The initial response must be sent to the requestor within 10 business days from when the City Clerk received the request. This response may not be documents but may be a fee estimate as to what the cost of producing the request might be. If no response is sent within 10 business days, the City will not charge a fee to the requestor. 
  • A request for public records should include a reasonable description of specific records being requested.
  • Under some circumstances the Records Custodian may assess a reasonable fee for the production of public records. Due to the size of Gardner's Population, the first two (2) hours of work on production of the request will be free. Any time done after that will be done at the hourly rate of the Official/Employee/Personnel who is paid at the lowest rate and has the ability of producing the requested documents. 
  • For additional information about making a request or filing an appeal, see 950 CMR 32.08 (2) or refer to our publication, A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law (PDF).