[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township of Washington (now Township of
Robbinsville) 11-1-2004 by Ord. No. 2004-35
(§ 2-65.2 of the 2001 Code). Amendments noted where applicable.]
New Jersey has adopted the Open Public Records Law (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1
et seq.) which has as its general purpose making government records more available
to the public than they have been in the past. In certain instances, the production
of archived records or records in a format which is not the usual format maintained
by the municipality or other special circumstances would be costly and time
consuming. The New Jersey Public Records Law permits the municipality to require
the payment of fees, special service charges and/or special charges as a prerequisite
to the production of records requiring extraordinary time and effort, special
equipment or special formatting.
[Amended 8-30-2005 by Ord. No. 2005-29]
The statutory fee schedule shall apply to routine requests under the
Open Public Records Law. The fees of N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5 are hereby incorporated
herein as such fee schedule presently exists or as such fees might appear
in future modifications or amendments of the statute.
The establishment of the position of deputy custodians of documents
are as follows:
Nothing in this chapter shall require the custodian or deputy custodians
of documents or any other municipal official to examine, analyze, tabulate,
or interpret documents which are subject to production under the New Jersey
Open Public Records Act.
The Municipal Clerk or deputy custodian of documents qualifying for
mandatory production as "governmental records" under the New Jersey Public
Records Act shall be entitled to special service charges and/or special charges
as set forth in this chapter.
Any requests for documents shall be made to the Municipal Clerk on a
form established by the Municipal Clerk for such purposes.
Any requester of government records which are eligible for the imposition
of a special charge or special service charge under of this chapter shall
receive advance notice of the amount of fees and charges before any work is
started. The Municipal Clerk shall require prepayment of such charges before
causing the work to begin.
A.
Duplication on other work beyond capability of municipal
in-house work force. Whenever the in-house municipal work force or available
municipal equipment is insufficient to duplicate or produce government records
in a timely fashion, the Municipal Clerk may cause such duplication or production
to be accomplished by outside vendors such as copy centers or producers of
digital images. If the costs of such duplication or production charged by
such vendors exceeds the routine charges set forth in N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5, the
actual direct cost of same without any additional surcharge for labor costs
shall be paid.
B.
Special service charged authorized. Whenever government
records cannot be reproduced by regular copying equipment or fulfillment of
the request would involve extraordinary time and effort (for example, where
a large number of records must be recovered from storage or substantive staff
time is required to review, sort and assemble records), charges may be imposed
as follows: The actual cost (materials and supplies but no staff labor) of
duplication or reproduction plus a special service charge of $32 per hour
or the actual direct cost of labor (if less) shall be imposed for each hour
of extraordinary time predicted to be utilized to respond to the request.
C.
Digital records: If a request for governmental records
involves production or conversion of digital or computerized records or film
which is in a medium not routinely used by the agency (i.e., electronic or
film), not routinely developed or maintained by an agency, or requiring a
substantial amount of manipulation or programming of information technology,
the requester shall pay fees and special charges as follows: direct costs
(no overhead) to comply with the request plus special charges (the lesser
of the cost of technology and labor actually incurred or $45 per hour).
The Township of Robbinsville may be compelled by New Jersey law to produce
or duplicate governmental records, but no compliance with these legal obligations
shall be deemed to constitute a license, sublicense or waiver of copyright
laws.
