Town of Wheatfield, NY Chapter 142 Records

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Wheatfield as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]

Article I Public Access

[Adopted 1-20-1975]

§ 142-1 Designation of supervising officer.

The Town Supervisor of the Town of Wheatfield shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the regulations herein.

§ 142-2 Designation of records access officer.

The Town Clerk of the Town of Wheatfield is hereby designated as records access officer of the Town of Wheatfield and shall have the duty of coordinating the agency's responsiveness to public requests for access to records.

§ 142-3 Powers and duties of records access officer.

The records access officer is responsible for assuring that agency personnel:

A. Maintain an up-to-date subject matter list.

B. Assist the requester in identifying requested records, if necessary.

C. Upon locating the records, take one of the following actions:

(1) Make records promptly available for inspection; or

(2) Deny access to the records in whole or in part and explain, in writing, the reasons therefor.

D. Upon request for copies of records:

(1) Make a copy available upon payment of a fee as follows:[1]

(a) Copies not to exceed nine inches by 14 inches: $0.25.

(b) Copies in excess of nine inches by 14 inches: the actual reproduction cost, which shall be the average unit cost for copying a record, excluding the fixed costs of the Town.

(c) There shall be no charge for records provided in an electronic format via electronic mail.

[1] Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).

(2) Permit the requester to copy those records.

E. Upon request, certify that a transcript is a true copy of records copied.

F. Upon failure to locate records, certify that:

(1) The agency is not the legal custodian for such records.

(2) The records of which the agency is a legal custodian cannot be found.

G. Develop a form, which shall be made available on the Internet, that may be used by the public to request a record.[2]

[2] Editor's Note: Added at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).

§ 142-4 Designation of fiscal officer. [1]

The Town Supervisor of the Town of Wheatfield is hereby designated as fiscal officer, with his or her office at the Town Hall, 2800 Church Street, Wheatfield, New York, and he or she shall be the person charged with certifying the payroll. He or she shall respond to requests for an itemized record setting forth the name, address, title and salary of every officer or employee of the Town, and he or she shall make the payroll items listed above available to any person, including bona fide members of the news media, as required under Articles 6 and 6-A of the Public Officers Law.

[1] Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).

§ 142-5 Location; hours.

A. The Town Board hereby designates the Town Hall, 2800 Church Street, Wheatfield, New York, as the location where records shall be available for public inspection and copying.

B. The Town shall accept requests for public access to records and produce records during all hours that the Town Hall is regularly open for business.

C. If records are required of any official or employee of the Town who is not available during regular business hours, the person making a request shall make a written request of the information desired and file it with the Town Clerk. The requester shall be provided the name, position, address and phone number of the person to be contacted for the purpose of making an appointment to inspect and copy such records.

§ 142-6 Access requirements.

A. Requests.[1]

(1) All requests for public access to records shall be in writing and may be submitted via electronic mail to the extent practicable.

(2) If records are available on the Internet, the records access officer shall inform the requester of such availability and advise the requester to retrieve such records from the Internet.

[1] Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).

B. Any official shall respond promptly to a request for records. Except under extraordinary circumstances, his or her response shall be made no more than five working days after receipt of the request by the official, whether the request is oral or in writing.

C. If for any reason more than five days is required to produce records, the municipal official shall acknowledge receipt of the request within five working days after the request is received. The acknowledgment shall include a brief explanation of the reason for delay and an estimate of the date production or denial will be forthcoming.

D. The Town Clerk shall maintain and make available for public inspection and copying a current list, by subject matter, of all records produced, filed or first kept or promulgated after September 1, 1974. The list shall be sufficiently detailed to permit the requester to identify the file category of the record sought.

E. The subject matter list shall be updated periodically and the date of the most recent updating shall appear on the first page. The updating of the subject matter list shall not be less than semiannual.

F. A request for access to records should be sufficiently detailed to identify the records. Where possible, the requester should supply information regarding dates, titles, file designations or other information which may help identify the records.

§ 142-7 Removal of records.

No records may be removed by the requester from the office where the record is located without the permission of the Town Clerk, and in no event shall such records be removed by the requester from the Town Hall.

§ 142-8 Appeals.

A. The Town Board shall hear all appeals for denial of access to records under the Freedom of Information Law.[1]

[1] Editor's Note: See Article 6 of the Public Officers Law, § 84 et seq.

B. The denial of access shall be in writing, stating the reason therefor and advising the requester of his or her right to appeal to the Town Board. Such appeal shall be filed with the Town Clerk, who shall immediately present it to the Supervisor.

C. The time for deciding an appeal by the Town Board shall commence upon receipt of the written appeal by the Town Clerk identifying:

(1) The date and location of requests for records.

(2) The records to which the requester was denied access.

(3) The name and return address of the requester.

D. The Town Board shall inform the requester of its decision, in writing, within seven business days of receipt of an appeal.[2]

[2] Editor's Note: The former unnumbered paragraph dealing with fees, which immediately followed this subsection, was deleted at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).

§ 142-9 Public notice.

Public notice as follows shall be posted in the Town Hall of the Town of Wheatfield and shall be published in the Niagara Gazette and the Tonawanda News:

A. The location where public records shall be made available for inspection and copying.

B. The name, title, business address and business telephone number of the designated records access officer and of the fiscal officer.

C. The right to appeal by any requester denied access to a record for whatever reason and the name and business address of the person or persons or body to whom an appeal is to be directed.