[HISTORY: Adopted by the Township Council
of the Township of Stafford 3-20-1984 by Ord. No. 84-23. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
[Amended 6-11-2002 by Ord. No. 2002-35]
A. In accordance with the provisions of N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1
et seq. (the Act), government records shall be readily accessible
for inspection, copying, or examination by the citizens of this state,
with certain exceptions, for the protection of the public interest,
and any limitations in the right of access accorded by the Act as
amended and supplemented shall be construed in favor of the public's
right of access. A "government record" or "record" shall be as defined
within N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1.
B. In accordance with N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1, the "custodian
of a government record" or "custodian" shall mean the Municipal Clerk.
The Municipal Clerk may delegate responsibility for handling records
requests for particular departments within the Township to deputy
custodians.
C. The custodian of government record shall permit the
record to be inspected, examined, and copied by any person during
regular business hours unless a government record is exempt from public
access by the Act, as amended and supplemented, any other statute,
resolution of either or both houses of the Legislature, regulation
promulgated under the authority of any statute or executive order
of the Governor, executive order of the Governor, Rules of Court,
any federal law, federal regulation, or federal order. A request for
a record must be made on a form adopted by the custodian of the government
record.
D. Unless a shorter time period is otherwise provided
by statute, regulation, or executive order, a custodian of a government
record shall grant access to a government record or deny a request
for access to a government record as soon as possible, but not later
than seven business days after receiving the request, provided that
the record is currently available and not in storage or archived.
E. During such regular business hours and under the supervision
of a representative of the custodian, every citizen of the state shall
also have the right to copy such records by hand and to purchase copies
of the records. Copies of records shall be made available upon the
payment of the price as established by law. The custodian may require
a deposit against costs for reproducing documents sought whenever
the custodian anticipates that the information thus requested will
cost in excess of $5 to reproduce.
[Last amended 11-1-2010 by Ord. No. 2010-36]
A. The statutory fee schedule shall apply to routine requests under
the Open Public Records Law. The fees set forth in 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.
B. At the present time, fees under N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5 for routine copies
of municipal documents are be $0.05 per letter-size page or smaller
and $0.07 per legal-size page or larger.
[Added 4-16-2007 by Ord. No. 2007-45; amended 6-4-2007 by Ord. No. 2007-58; 11-1-2010 by Ord. No. 2010-36]
A. The following fees shall be charged for copies of public documents
and records:
(1) Police reports. The fee shall be in accordance with the rates established by N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5, set forth in Subsection
A(2) below. For police accident reports not requested in person, an additional fee of $5 shall be charged to cover the administrative costs of the report, pursuant to N.J.S.A. 39:4-131.
(2) All other documents. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5, except as otherwise
provided by law or regulation, the fee assessed for the duplication
of a government record embodied in the form of printed manner shall
be $0.05 per letter-size page or smaller and $0.07 per legal-size
page or larger. If the actual cost of reproduction exceeds $0.05 per
letter-size page or smaller or $0.07 per legal-size page or larger,
the Township may charge the actual cost of duplication. Access to
electronic records and nonprinted materials shall be provided free
of charge, but the Township will charge for the actual costs of any
needed supplies, such as computer discs.
(3) Copies of videotapes or audiotapes; review of videotapes or audiotapes.
The Township shall charge actual cost of duplication.
B. Whenever the nature, format, manner of collation or volume of a government
record embodied in the form of printed matter to be inspected, examined
or copied is such that the record cannot be reproduced by the Township
by ordinary document-copying equipment in ordinary business size or
involves an extraordinary expenditure of time and effort by the Township
to accommodate the request, the Township may charge, in addition to
the actual cost of duplicating the record, a special service charge
that shall be reasonable and based upon the actual direct cost of
providing the copy or copies. The requestor shall have the opportunity
to review and object to the charge prior to it being incurred.
C. In the event that an extraordinary expenditure of time and effort
is needed by the Township to accommodate a request to inspect, in
addition to any fees for actual duplication and copying incurred by
the requestor under this article, the Township shall assess a special
service charge based upon the cost incurred for such extensive use
of information technology resources and/or the labor cost of the personnel
providing the service that is actually incurred or attributable to
the Township for the clerical and supervisory assistance required,
or both. The manner by which such special inspection service fee is
calculated shall be kept on file with the Township. The requestor
shall have the opportunity to review and object to the charge prior
to it being incurred.
[Added 3-2-2010 by Ord. No. 2010-09]
A. Entitled party. The tax collector shall provide to any party entitled
to redeem a tax lien two calculations of the amount required for redemption
within a calendar year at no cost. For each subsequent calculation,
the cost shall be $50.
B. Lienholder. The fee charged to any lienholder for the calculation
of the amount due to redeem a tax lien shall be $50.