[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Wheatfield as
indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 1-20-1975]
The Town Supervisor of the Town of Wheatfield shall be responsible for
ensuring compliance with the regulations herein.
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.
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.
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.
(2)
Permit the requester to copy those records.
E.
Upon request, certify that a transcript is a true copy
of records copied.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.