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Borough of Longport, NJ
Atlantic County
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners of the Borough of Longport 3-19-2008 by Ord. No. 2008-05.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed former Ch. 42, Records, Public Access to, adopted 9-17-2003 by Ord. No. 2003-12.
A. 
The individual filling the position of Municipal Clerk shall be the Custodian of Public Records for the Borough of Longport except for the Police Department. For the Police Department, the Custodian of Public Records shall be the Confidential Assistant to the Police Chief.
[Amended 12-7-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-17]
B. 
The following individuals shall be designated Deputy Custodians of Public Records in their respective departments:
(1) 
Police Chief and/or his or her designee.
(2) 
Fire Chief and/or his or her designee.
(3) 
Tax Assessor and/or his or her designee.
(4) 
Construction Official and/or his or her designee.
(5) 
Purchasing Agent and/or his or her designee.
(6) 
Chief Financial Officer and/or his or her designee.
(7) 
Superintendent of Public Works and/or his or her designee.
(8) 
Tax Collector and/or his or her designee.
All government records shall be filed, kept and preserved pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S.A. 47:3-15 et seq. (Destruction of Public Records Law). All government records shall be and remain the sole property of the Borough. Each department head shall be responsible for enforcing the requirements of this section in his or her department.
[Amended 7-7-2010 by Ord. No. 2010-08; 11-17-2023 by Ord. No. 2023-26]
The following shall be charged for the copying and reproduction of public records. Copies of public records shall be made available upon payment of the following fees, which shall be based upon the total number of pages, or parts thereof, to be purchased, without regard to the number of records being copied:
A. 
Letter size (8 1/2 inches by 11 inches) : $0.05 per page.
B. 
Legal size (11 inches by 14 inches) : $0.07 per page.
C. 
If the actual cost to produce paper copies exceeds the above rates, the Borough may charge the actual cost of duplication.
D. 
The Borough shall provide electronic records free of charge (i.e., records sent via email and fax).
Whenever the nature, format, manner of collation or volume of a government record(s) embodied in the form of printed matter to be inspected, examined or copied pursuant to this section is such that the record cannot be reproduced by ordinary document-copying equipment in ordinary business size and requires outsourcing for reproduction or copying, the actual cost charged for such outsourcing shall be the charge paid for said outsourcing and shall be paid by the individual or entity making the request for such public record. The first sentence of this section shall be contained on the Open Public Records Act request form currently used in the Borough of Longport and shall be preprinted on the same, and said form as amended by this chapter is specifically adopted as the official Open Public Records Act request form of the Borough of Longport.
A. 
Any person shall have the right, during regular business hours and under the supervision of the Custodian of Records or a designee thereof, to inspect or have copied any public record. Should the actual time that the Custodian of Records or representative(s) thereof spends supervising or copying any public documents pursuant to a single request be in excess of seven hours of employee time, including locating such document or documents, any hour or part thereof in excess of said seven hours shall be considered an extraordinary expenditure of time and effort and the individual requesting such public document(s) shall be charged, in addition to the actual cost of duplicating the document(s), a special service charge for each hour in excess of said seven hours at the cost of $25 per hour or the actual hourly rate of the employee and/or employees supervising and/or copying said documents, whichever is less. A copy of the second sentence of this subsection shall be included on the Open Public Records Act request form used by the Borough of Longport so that any requestor shall have the opportunity to review the same and object to said charge prior to same being incurred.
B. 
If an individual requests a record from the Borough of Longport in a medium not routinely used by the Borough of Longport or not routinely developed or maintained by the Borough of Longport or requiring a substantial amount of manipulation or programming of information technology by the Borough of Longport, said requestor shall be charged in addition to the actual costs of duplication a special charge in the amount of $25 per hour or the actual hourly rate of the employee or the employees performing said function, per hour, whichever is less. A copy of the first sentence of this subsection shall be added to the Open Public Records Act request form used in the Borough of Longport.
C. 
In addition to any and all charges as set forth above, if an individual requests a reproduction of a video tape, audio tape, or compact disk, said requestor shall be given the opportunity to supply a blank video tape, blank audio tape, or blank compact disk, respectively, which will be used for such reproduction.
[Amended 7-7-2010 by Ord. No. 2010-08]
(1) 
If the individual making such a request indicates that they do not wish to provide the video tape, audio tape or compact disk, as the case may be, the following charges shall apply regarding the purchase of the same for reproduction by the Borough of Longport and shall be in addition to any and all amounts which may be charged pursuant to this chapter:
(a) 
Video tape: $0.34 per DVD.
(b) 
Audio tape: $0.34 per DVD.
(c) 
Compact disk: $1 per CD.
(2) 
The above portion of this subsection shall be listed on the Open Public Records Act request form used in the Borough of Longport. The seven-business-day period pursuant to which an Open Public Records Act request must be responded to shall begin in the case of video tapes, audio tapes and compact disks from the date that the Custodian of Records or a Deputy Custodian of Records is advised that the requestor shall not supply such video tape, audio tape or compact disk or from the date that the individual requestor supplies such video tape, audio tape or compact disk, respectively.
Any request for public records shall be responded to in seven business days by either providing the public document(s) requested or by providing the requestor with an interim report indicating the estimated time that will be required to provide the records if the same cannot be produced within seven business days from said request.
For the purpose of this chapter, the term "public records" includes those records determined to be public in accordance with the Open Public Records Act[1] and subject to all exclusions and deletions as set forth therein.
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq.
A. 
In the event that a federal, state, local law, or regulation provides a higher fee for any document, the higher fee shall be charged except to the extent inconsistent with the Open Public Records Act.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq.
B. 
Municipal Court records are maintained exclusively by the Municipal Court Administrator. All requests for such records shall be submitted on Municipal Court forms to the Municipal Court Administrator along with the appropriate fees.
C. 
The provisions of the Open Public Records Act[2] are incorporated herein by reference. To the extent the provisions of this Chapter 42 are inconsistent with said Act, the provisions of the Act shall apply and be overriding.
[2]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq.
The Custodian of Records shall prominently post in public view in a part or parts of the Clerk's office that is open to or frequented by the public a statement that sets forth in clear, concise and specific terms the right to appeal denial of, or failure to provide, access to a government record by any person for inspection, examination, or copying or for purchase of copies thereof and the procedure by which an appeal may be filed.