[Adopted 5-14-2007 by Ord. No. 2007-04[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also superseded former Art. I, Municipal Documents, adopted 6-10-1980 by Ord. No. 1980-7 (Ch. 24A, Art. I, of the 1971 Code).
New Jersey has adopted the Open Pubic Records Law[1] which has as its general purpose making government records more available to the public than they have been in the past. In certain instances, the production of archived records or records in a format which is not the usual format maintained by the municipality or other special circumstances would be costly and time consuming. The New Jersey Public Records Law permits the municipality to require the payment of fees, special service charges and/or special charges as a prerequisite to the production of records requiring extraordinary time and effort or special equipment formatting.
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq.
A. 
The Borough of Palmyra Clerk is the custodian of all Borough records except those involving the Police Department. The Chief of Police and his designee are the custodians of all records involving the Police Department.
B. 
The statutory fee schedule shall apply to routine requests under the Open Public Records Law. The fees of 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.
C. 
At present time, fees under N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5[1] for routine copies of municipal documents are:
(1) 
All letter-size pages: $0.05 (per page).
(2) 
All legal-size pages: $0.07 (per page).
[1]
Editor's Note: Said statute was amended by L.2010, c. 75, § 5, eff. 9-10-2010, operative 11-9-2010; L.2014, c. 19, § 3, eff. 11-1-2014. The fees in this subsection were updated accordingly, as directed by the Borough. Former Subsection C(3) was redesignated as Subsection C(2).
Nothing in this article shall require the custodian of documents or any other municipal official to examine, analyze, tabulate, or interpret documents which are subject to production under the New Jersey Open Public Records Act.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq.
A. 
Charges authorized. The Borough Clerk, Chief of Police or other custodian or keeper of documents qualifying for mandatory production as "government records" under the New Jersey Public Records Act shall be entitled to special service charges and/or special charges as set forth in § 114-5 of this article.
B. 
Requests to be in writing. Any requests for documents shall be made to the Borough Clerk/Chief of Police on a form established by the Borough Clerk/Chief of Police for such purposes.
C. 
Advanced notice of fees, special service charges and special charges; deposit. Any requester of government records which are eligible for the imposition of a special charge or special service charge under § 114-5 of this article shall receive advance notice of the amount of fees and charges before any work is started. The Borough Clerk/Chief of Police shall require prepayment of such charges before causing the work to begin.
A. 
Duplication or other work beyond capability of municipal in-house work force. Whenever the in-house municipal work force or available municipal equipment is insufficient to duplicate or produce government records in a timely fashion, the Borough Clerk may cause such duplication or production to be accomplished by outside vendors such as copy centers or producers of digital images. If the costs of such duplication or production charged by such vendors exceeds the routine charges set forth in N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5, the actual direct cost of same without any additional surcharge for labor costs shall be paid.
B. 
Special service charges authorized.
(1) 
When government records cannot be reproduced by regular copying equipment or fulfillment of the request would involve extraordinary time and effort (for example, where a large number of records must be recovered from storage or substantive staff time is required to review, sort and assemble records), charges may be imposed as follows:
(a) 
The actual cost (materials and supplies but no staff labor) of duplication or reproduction; plus
(b) 
A special service charge of $26.26 per hour or the actual direct cost of labor (if less) shall be imposed for each hour of extraordinary time predicted to be utilized to respond to the request.
(2) 
If the Borough of Palmyra does not maintain the record in the medium requested, the custodian shall either convert the record to the medium requested or provide a copy in some other meaningful medium. If a request is for a record in a medium not routinely used by the Borough of Palmyra, not routinely developed or maintained by the Borough of Palmyra, or requiring a substantial amount of manipulation or programming of information technology, the Borough of Palmyra may charge, in addition to the actual cost of duplication, a special charge in the sum of $26.26 per hour.
(3) 
The requester shall pay fees and special charges as follows:
(a) 
Direct costs (no overhead) to comply with the request; plus
(b) 
Special charges; the lessor of the cost of technology and labor actually incurred or $26.26 per hour.