[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Upper
Brookville at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art.
I). Amendments noted where applicable.]
A.Â
The people's right to know the process of government
decisionmaking and the documents and statistics leading to determinations
can be thwarted by shrouding it with the cloak of secrecy or confidentiality.
B.Â
This article provides information concerning the procedures
by which records may be obtained from an agency defined by Subdivision 3 of
§ 86 of the Public Officers Law. No agency regulations shall be
more restrictive than this article.
D.Â
Any conflicts among laws governing public access to records
shall be construed in favor of the widest possible availability of public
records.
A.Â
The Board of Trustees ("Board") of the village shall
be responsible for ensuring compliance with the regulations herein and designates
the Village Clerk as the principal records access officer who shall have the
duty of coordinating the village response to public requests for access to
records. The designation of the Village Clerk shall not be construed to prohibit
the Attorneys for the village ("Attorneys"), who have in the past been authorized
to make records or information available to the public, from continuing to
do so.
The Board hereby designates the office of the Village Clerk and the
Attorneys as the location where public records shall be available for public
inspection and copying.
The Village Clerk and Attorneys shall accept requests for public access
to records and produce records during all hours during which the Clerk's
office or Attorneys' office is regularly open for business.
A.Â
The Village Clerk and Attorneys may require that a request
be made in writing or may make records available upon oral request.
B.Â
The Village Clerk and Attorneys shall respond to any
request reasonably describing the record or records sought within five business
days of receipt of the request.
C.Â
A request shall reasonably describe the record or records
sought. Whenever possible a person requesting records should supply information
regarding dates, file designations or other information that may help to describe
the records sought.
D.Â
If the Village Clerk and Attorneys do not provide or
deny access to the records sought within five business days of receipt of
a request, the Village Clerk and Attorneys shall furnish a written acknowledgment
of receipt of the request and a statement of the approximate date when the
request will be granted or denied. If access to records is neither granted
nor denied within 10 business days after the date of acknowledgment of receipt
of a request, the request may be construed as a denial of access that may
be appealed.
A.Â
The Village Clerk and Attorneys shall maintain a reasonably
detailed current list by subject matter of all records in his/her or their
possession, whether or not records are available pursuant to Subdivision 2
of § 87 of the Public Officers Law.
B.Â
The subject matter list shall be sufficiently detailed
to permit identification of the category of the record sought.
C.Â
The subject matter list shall be updated not less than
twice per year. The most recent update shall appear on the first page of the
subject matter list.
A.Â
The Board shall hear appeals or shall designate a person
or body to hear appeals regarding denial of access to records under the Freedom
of Information Law.
B.Â
Denial of access shall be in writing stating the reason
therefor and advising the person denied access of his or her right to appeal
to the person or body established to hear appeals, and that person or body
shall be identified by name, title, business address and business telephone
number. The records access officer shall not be the appeals officer.
C.Â
If the Board fails to respond to a request within five business days of receipt of a request as required in § 50-5 of this article, such failure shall be deemed a denial of access by the agency.
D.Â
Any person denied access to records may appeal within
30 days of a denial.
F.Â
The Board shall transmit to the Committee on Open Government
copies of all appeals upon receipt of an appeal. Such copies shall be addressed
to:
Committee on Open
GovernmentDepartment of State
162 Washington Avenue
Albany, New York 12231
|
G.Â
The Board or the person or body designated to hear appeals shall inform the appellant and the Committee on Open Government of its determination, in writing, within seven business days of receipt of an appeal. The determination shall be transmitted to the Committee on Open Government in the same manner as set forth in Subsection F of this section.
Except when a different fee is otherwise prescribed by law:
B.Â
The Village Clerk or Attorneys may provide copies of
records without charging a fee.
Records Retention and Disposition Schedule MU-1, issued pursuant to
Article 57-A of the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law and containing legal minimum
retention periods for municipal government records is hereby adopted for use
by all municipal officers in disposing of municipal government records listed
therein.
In accordance with Article 57-A:
A.Â
Only those records will be disposed of that are described
in Records Retention and Disposition Schedule MU-1 after they have met the
minimum retention period prescribed therein.
B.Â
Only those records will be disposed of that do not have
sufficient administrative, fiscal, legal or historical value to merit retention
beyond established time periods.