[Amended 1-22-2013 by L.L. No. 1-2013]
There shall be a records management program established under
the aegis of the Village Clerk's Office and headed by the Village
Clerk as Records Management Officer (RMO). The RMO will be responsible
for administering the noncurrent and archival public records and storage
areas for the Village of Sleepy Hollow in accordance with local, state
and federal laws and guidelines. The Village Clerk shall have the
option to appoint a designee to perform this function with the prior
approval of the Mayor.
The records access officers, under the coordination of the Village
Clerk, shall be responsible for assuring that Village personnel:
A. Maintain an up-to-date subject matter list.
B. Assist the requester in identifying requested records, if necessary,
and, when appropriate, indicate the manner in which the records are
filed, retrieved or generated to assist persons in reasonably describing
records.
[Amended 1-22-2013 by L.L. No. 1-2013]
C. Upon locating the records, take one of the following actions:
(1) Make records available for inspection.
(2) Deny access to the records in whole or in part and explain in writing
the reasons therefor.
D. Upon request for copies of records to which access is granted, take
one of the following actions:
(1) Make a copy available upon payment or offer to pay established fees as set forth in §
80-8 hereof.
(2) Permit the requester to copy those records.
E. Upon request, certify that a record is a true copy.
F. Upon failure to locate records, certify that:
(1) The Village is not the custodian for such records.
(2) The records of which the Village is a custodian cannot be found after
a diligent search.
G. Contact
persons seeking records when a request is voluminous or when locating
the records sought involves substantial effort, so that agency personnel
may ascertain the nature of records of primary interest and attempt
to reasonably reduce the volume of the records requested.
[Added 1-22-2013 by L.L.
No. 1-2013]
The records access officers shall accept requests for public
access to records, other than those having to do with police matters,
and shall produce records during all hours that the offices of the
Village Clerk, Treasurer and Building Inspector are regularly open
for business. With respect to records having to do with police matters,
the duties of all Village records access officers shall be deemed
automatically delegated to the Chief of Police, to whom the records
access officer shall forward all requests for access to police records,
and he shall also be authorized to directly accept and act on requests
for access to police records during all hours that the office of the
Chief of Police is regularly open for business at police headquarters
at 28 Beekman Avenue.
The records access officers and the Chief of Police may make
records available only upon written request upon a form prescribed
by the Village, a copy of which is made a part of this chapter. A request shall reasonably describe the record or records
sought. Whenever possible, a person requesting records should supply
information regarding dates, file designations or other information
that may help to describe the records sought. Records requested must
be readily identifiable, and all requests should be presented in an
orderly fashion, avoiding narrative and prolix requests.
[Amended 1-22-2013 by L.L. No. 1-2013]
A. The records
access officers and the Chief of Police shall respond to any request
reasonably describing the record or records sought within five business
days of receipt of the request by:
(1) Informing
a person requesting records that the request or portion of the request
does not reasonably describe the records sought, including direction,
to the extent possible, that would enable that person to request records
reasonably described;
(2) Granting
or denying access to records in whole or in part;
(3) Acknowledging
the receipt of a request in writing, including an approximate date
when the request will be granted or denied in whole or in part, which
shall be reasonable under the circumstances of the request and shall
not be more than 20 business days after the date of the acknowledgment,
or if it is known that circumstances prevent disclosure within 20
business days from the date of such acknowledgment, providing a statement
in writing stating the reason for inability to grant the request within
that time and a date certain, within a reasonable period under the
circumstances of the request, when the request will be granted in
whole or in part; or
(4) If the
receipt of request was acknowledged in writing and included an approximate
date when the request would be granted in whole or in part within
20 business days of such acknowledgment, but circumstances prevent
disclosure within that time, providing a statement in writing with
20 business days of such acknowledgment stating the reason for the
inability to do so and a date certain, within a reasonable period
under the circumstances of the request, when the request will be granted
in whole or in part.
B. If the record sought is not provided and if access thereto is not denied within five business days of receipt of a request, the records access officer or the Chief of Police shall furnish a written acknowledgment of receipt of the request and a statement of the approximate date when the request will be granted or denied. If access to records is neither granted nor denied within 20 business days after the date of acknowledgment of receipt of a request, the request may be construed as a denial of access that may be appealed as set forth in §
80-7 hereof.
The records access officer and the Chief of Police shall each
maintain a reasonably detailed current list by subject matter of all
records in their possession, whether or not records are available
pursuant to § 87(2) of the Public Officers Law. The subject
matter lists shall be sufficiently detailed to permit identification
of the category of the record sought and shall be updated not less
than twice per year. The most recent update shall appear on the first
page of the subject matter list.
Except where a different fee is otherwise provided for by law:
A. There shall be no fee charged for the following:
(1) Inspection of records for which no redaction is permitted.
[Amended 1-22-2013 by L.L. No. 1-2013]
(3) Any certification pursuant to the Freedom of Information Law.
B. The records access officer and the Chief of Police may charge a fee
for copies of records, provided that:
(1) The fee for copying records for photocopies not exceeding nine inches by 14 inches shall be established and determined by the Board of Trustees from time to time and set forth in the fee schedule included at the end of Chapter
200, Fees.
[Amended 7-6-1981 by L.L. No. 3-1981; 8-16-1994 by L.L. No. 11-1994]
(2) At times when photocopying equipment is not in operation or is not
available, a transcript of the requested records shall be made upon
request. Such transcripts may be either typed or handwritten. In such
cases, the person requesting records shall be charged for the clerical
time involved in making the transcript, such fee to be payable in
advance of transcription.
(3) The fee for copies of records not covered by Subsection
B(1) and
(2) of this section shall not exceed the actual reproduction cost, which is the average unit cost for copying a record.
(4) An agency
has the authority to redact portions of a paper record and does so
prior to disclosure of the record by making a photocopy from which
the proper redactions are made.
[Added 1-22-2013 by L.L.
No. 1-2013]
C. The fee
the Village may charge for a copy of any other record is based on
the actual cost of reproduction and may include only the following:
[Added 1-22-2013 by L.L.
No. 1-2013]
(1) An amount
equal to the hourly salary attributed to the lowest paid employee
who has the necessary skill required to prepare a copy of the requested
record, but only when more than two hours of the employee's time are
necessary to do so; and
(2) The
actual cost of the storage devices or media provided to the person
making the request in complying with such request; or
(3) The
actual cost to the agency of engaging an outside professional service
to prepare a copy of a record, but only when the Village’s information
technology equipment is inadequate to prepare a copy, and if such
service is used to prepare the copy.
D. When the Village has the ability to retrieve or extract a record or data maintained in a computer storage system with reasonable effort, or when doing so requires less employee time than engaging in manual retrieval or redactions from nonelectronic records, the Village shall be required to retrieve or extract such record or data electronically. In such case, the Village may charge a fee in accordance with Subsection
C(1) and
(2) of this section.
[Added 1-22-2013 by L.L.
No. 1-2013]
E. The Village
shall inform a person requesting a record of the estimated cost of
preparing a copy of the record if more than two hours of a Village
employee's time are needed, or if it is necessary to retain an outside
professional service to prepare a copy of the record.
[Added 1-22-2013 by L.L.
No. 1-2013]
F. The Village
may require that the fee for copying or reproducing a record be paid
in advance of the preparation of such copy.
[Added 1-22-2013 by L.L.
No. 1-2013]
G. The Village
may waive a fee in whole or in part when making copies of records
available.
[Added 1-22-2013 by L.L.
No. 1-2013]
In the denial or granting of access to records hereunder, the
records access officer, the Chief of Police, the Mayor and all other
Village personnel involved shall be guided by the mandates, rules
and exceptions as set forth in the Freedom of Information Law. In
no case shall original records be removed from the lawful custody
of any officer charged with the duty of maintaining such records.
In the event that any question should arise as to the necessity or
propriety of the granting of access to any records under the Freedom
of Information Law, such as whether such access would result in an
unwarranted invasion of privacy or a disclosure of information that
must be confidential in order to safeguard law enforcement, or a similar
question, the records access officer and/or Chief of Police and/or
Mayor shall confer with the Village Attorney prior to making a final
decision as to granting access.
[Amended 1-22-2013 by L.L. No. 1-2013]
The Village Clerk is hereby directed to publish in any newspaper
currently designated by the Board of Trustees as an official newspaper
of the Village, a public notice containing the following information:
A. The fact that such police records as may be made available pursuant
to the Freedom of Information Law of the State of New York will be
made available for inspection and copying at the office of the Chief
of Police at police headquarters at 28 Beekman Avenue and that all
other Village records that are to be made so available pursuant to
the statute will be made available for inspection and copying at the
office of the Village Clerk, Treasurer and Building Inspector in Village
Hall, 28 Beekman Avenue.
B. The name, title and business address and telephone number of the
personnel designated as records access officers hereunder.
C. The right to appeal by any person denied access to a record by either
the records access officers or the Chief of Police and the business
address and name of the Mayor to whom an appeal is to be directed.