[Adopted 6-3-1999 by Ord. No. 211-2-99; amended in its entirety 9-18-2008 by Ord. No. 211-6-2008]
The public records of the Township of Bethlehem
shall be accessible for examination and copy in accordance with N.J.S.A.
47:1A-1 et seq., upon the terms and conditions as hereinafter provided.
Such inspection shall be made only at reasonable times during the
business hours and without interference with the conduct of the affairs
of the office or other place where such records are kept or maintained.
As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
PUBLIC RECORD
Shall include those records determined to be public in accordance
with N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq. This term does not include employee
personnel files or pension files, including any grievance filed by
or against an individual, police investigation records subject to
N.J.S.A. 47:1A-3b, public assistance files or other matters in which
there is a right of privacy or confidentiality or which is specifically
exempt by law.
RECORDS REQUEST
The official form adopted by the Municipal Clerk to process
all requests for public records. This form shall be available at the
Municipal Clerk's office.
The Municipal Clerk is not required to store
all municipal records in the Municipal Clerk's office. Most records
will be readily accessible for inspection, copying, or examination
during normal business hours, if available, and with certain exceptions
provided by N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq.
Nothing in this article shall require the Municipal
Clerk or any other municipal official, employee, servant and/or agent
to examine, analyze, tabulate, or interpret documents which are subject
to production under the New Jersey Open Public Records Act.
[Amended 7-1-2010 by Ord. No. 211.7.2010]
A copy or copies of a government record may
be purchased by any person upon payment of the fee prescribed by law
or regulation or, if a fee is not prescribed by law or regulation,
upon payment of the actual cost of duplicating the record.
A. The fee
assessed for the duplication of a government record embodied in the
form of printed matter shall not exceed the following:
(1) Letter-size
documents: up to $0.10 per page.
(2) Legal-size
documents: up to $0.15 per page.
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 ordinary
document copying equipment in ordinary business size or involves an
extraordinary expenditure of time and effort 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
shall be based upon the actual direct cost of providing the copy or
copies.
C. Whenever
a request is made by mail, the Township may charge, in addition to
the actual cost of duplicating the record, the actual cost of mailing
the records.
The Township of Bethlehem 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.
The Township of Bethlehem may waive the fees
or other charges otherwise chargeable, without resolution or ordinance,
if the requester is a governmental entity.
The Township of Bethlehem may adopt policies,
rules and regulations, by resolution, in furtherance of this article
from time to time. All policies, rules and regulations shall be kept
on file with the Municipal Clerk's office.