[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council
of the Borough of Wharton (Sec. 2-1.5i of the Revised General Ordinances).
Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Administration of government — See Ch. 3.
The Borough of Wharton hereby creates a Borough
public records policy governing public records created/governed by
N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq. ("Right to Know Law").
All government records shall be subject to public
access unless exempt from such access by P.L. 1963, c. 73 (N.J.S.A.
47:1A-1 et seq.), 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.
As used in this chapter, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
The Municipal Clerk.
Any paper, written or printed book, document, drawing, map,
plan, photograph, microfilm, data-processed or image-processed document,
information stored or maintained electronically or by sound recording
or in a similar device, or any copy thereof, that has been made, maintained
or kept on file in the course of his or its official business by an
officer, commission, agency or authority of the Borough, including
subordinate boards thereof, or that has been received in the course
of his or its official business by any such officer, commission, agency
or authority of the Borough, including subordinate boards thereof.
The terms shall not include inter-agency or intra-agency advisory,
consultative or deliberative material.
The Municipal Clerk is the Custodian of all
municipal records. All requests for records shall be made through
the Borough Clerk's Office on a form adopted by the Municipal Clerk.
No request for records shall be honored without a properly completed
form, except for document requests by the Mayor and/or Borough Council,
the Borough Attorney or other Borough special counsel.
A.
Upon receipt of a request for records, if said records
are public the custodian will endeavor to honor such request within
seven business days of the receipt of said request. Working days are
defined as Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. However, there
will be times when, due to the nature or extent of the request, the
custodian will be unable to honor the request within seven business
days; if any document or copy which has been requested is not a public
record or cannot be provided within the seven business days, a response
with the information shall be provided within the seven business days
to the person(s) requesting same. Immediate access ordinarily shall
be granted to budgets, bills, vouchers, contracts, including collective
negotiations agreements and individual employment contracts, and public
employee salary and overtime information.
B.
All requests for records shall be as specific as possible
to the Borough.
C.
All requests for records shall, except for requests
by Borough employees/officials and nonprofit organizations, be subject
to the Borough's policy as to copying costs.
The following records or types of records which
are not public and shall not be made available to the public include,
but are not limited to, the following: autopsy reports; child abuse
or sex assault victim's name or address; court records sealed; computer
security information; criminal investigatory records; credit card
numbers; grand jury testimony, information; grievance information
with public employer; domestic violence data; drivers' license numbers;
DYFS information; electronic surveillance materials; emergency or
security information or procedures; inter-agency or intra-agency advisory
communication; juvenile records; labor negotiations information, strategy
or positions; Medical Examiner photographs; otherwise inappropriate
material; pension and personnel records; photographs; presentence
investigations; public agency insurance communications; safety of
persons or public; security measures and surveillance techniques;
social security numbers, unlisted telephone numbers; victim location
(domestic violence); victim records; and records that have been destroyed/not
retained pursuant to records retention and disposition schedule.
Where a legal determination must be made as
to whether records are "public records," as provided by law, the request
will be reviewed by the Borough Attorney.
Council minutes shall not be considered public
records until such time as they are approved by the Borough Council.
[Amended 7-19-2010 by Ord.
No. O-08-10]
A.
Except as otherwise provided by law or regulation,
the fee assessed for the duplication of printed records shall be:
$0.05 per letter-sized pages and $0.07 for legal-sized pages; for
a police accident report there may be an additional fee when the request
is not made in person of $5 for the first three pages and $1 for each
additional page, as provided by N.J.S.A. 39:4-131.
B.
For CD or DVD copies, the cost shall be $0.50 per
item. For photo sheets, the cost shall be $0.50 per page. Where a
request is for a copy in a format other than those listed, reasonable
efforts will be made to provide the information in the format requested.
The cost will be based on the costs of producing the format requested.
C.
For any
requests sent by mail, the cost of postage will be charged.
D.
If the estimated cost of providing the document(s)
exceeds $5, a deposit shall be required.
A person who is denied access to a government
record by the custodian of the record, at the option of the requester,
may:
A.
Institute a proceeding to challenge the custodian's
decision by filing an action in Superior Court, which shall be heard
in the vicinage where it is filed by a Superior Court Judge who has
been designated to hear such cases because of that judge's knowledge
and expertise in matters relating to access to governments records;
or
B.
In lieu of filing an action in Superior Court, file
a complaint with the Government Records Council established pursuant
to Section 8 of P.L. 2001, c. 404 (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-7).
[Amended 5-4-2009 by Ord.
No. O-04-09]
Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5, a special service
charge will be imposed if the request involves extraordinary expenditure
of time and effort or requires a substantial amount of manipulation
or programming of information technology, defined as requiring at
least 25% of the custodian's normal workday. The special service charge
shall be reasonable and based on the cost of any extensive information
technology, for the labor of personnel providing the service and for
supervisory assistance required. This fee shall be imposed whether
a request is for actual documents or viewing of documents. The amount
of the special service charge shall be calculated by the Chief Financial
Officer using the fourteen-point criteria adopted by the Government
Records Council for determining the assessment of a special service
charge for extraordinary public records under N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(c),
and the person requesting the information shall have the opportunity
to review and object to the charge prior to it being incurred. If
the estimated cost of providing the information exceeds $5, a deposit
shall be paid before work will commence. The deposit shall be 50%
of the estimated cost.
