Borough of Bergenfield, NJ Chapter 236 Public Records, Access to

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Bergenfield 7-7-2009 by Ord. No. 09-2410.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]

[1] Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed former Ch. 236, Public Records, Access to, adopted 12-16-1975 by Ord. No. 1046 as Sec. 2-27 of the Revised General Ordinances, as amended.

§ 236-1 Purpose.

The State of New Jersey has adopted the Open Public Records Act[1] (hereinafter the "OPRA" or the "Act"), which has as its general purpose making government records more available to the public than they have been in the past. In certain instances, however, the production of archived records, copies of records in a format which is not in the usual format maintained by the municipality, or other special circumstances, has been deemed to be both costly and time consuming for the Borough to comply with. The Act therefore permits the Borough to require the payment of fees and special service charges as a prerequisite to the production of records requiring extraordinary time and effort, special equipment and special formatting. The Act further permits the Borough to demand that all charges for "ordinary" requests for information be paid in advance, as payment of the fee is a prerequisite for receipt of copies of any government record that is requested.

[1] Editor's Note: See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq.

§ 236-2 Ordinary requests for information; fees.

A. The statutory fee schedule shall apply to routine requests for government records under the Act. 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. All fees for making copies of the requested documents must be paid by the requesting party prior to any copies being made by the Borough.

B. At the present time, fees under N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5 for routine copies of government records are as follows:

(1) Pages 1 through 10: $0.75 per page.

(2) Pages 11 through 20: $0.50 per page.

(3) All pages after 20: $0.25 per page.

C. All requests for documents under the Act shall be submitted to the Borough, in writing, on either the official form prepared by the Borough of Bergenfield or in a format that otherwise contains the requirements of N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(f). Said writing must be hand-delivered or mailed to the Borough Clerk, who shall be known as the Custodian of Documents for purposes of this chapter. Submissions via facsimile and e-mail shall be rejected.

D. All requests for government Records must indicate with specificity the documents sought, so that they can be properly identified by the Borough. Failure to provide such specificity shall be grounds for the Borough to reject the aforesaid request.

§ 236-3 No research or interpretation may be compelled.

Nothing in this chapter 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 Act.

§ 236-4 Special service charge authorized.

A. Charges authorized. The Custodian of Documents shall be entitled to impose a special service charge, as set forth in § 236-5 of this chapter.

B. Advance notice of fees and special service charges. Any requestor of government records which are eligible for the imposition of a special service charge under § 236-5 of this chapter shall receive advance notice of the amount of the fees and charges before any work is started. The Custodian of Documents shall require prepayment of such fees and special service charges prior to the commencement of making copies of same.

§ 236-5 Circumstances and authorized amount of fees and special service charges.

A. Duplication of records beyond the capability of the in-house work force. Whenever the in-house municipal work force or available municipal equipment is insufficient to duplicate or produce government records within the time frame provided in N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5 of the Act for the production of same, the Custodian of Documents 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 exceed the routine charges set forth in the Act, then the actual direct cost of same without any additional surcharges for labor costs shall be paid.

B. Special service charges authorized. Whenever government records cannot be reproduced by regular copying equipment, or fulfillment of the request would involve extraordinary time and effort (e.g., where a large number of records must be recovered from storage or substantive staff time is required to review, sort and assemble records), special services charges may be imposed as follows:

(1) The actual cost (materials and supplies but no staff labor) of duplication or reproduction; and

(2) A special service charge of $32 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.

C. Rates for in-house production of prints or blueprints. Any prints or blueprints produced in-house in response to a government records request shall be produced at $30.

D. Digital records. If a request for government records involves production or conversion of digital or computerized records or film, which is in a medium not routinely used by the Borough; not routinely developed or maintained by the Borough; or requiring a substantial amount of manipulation or programming of information technology, the requesting party shall pay fees and special service charges as follows:

(1) The direct cost (no overhead) to comply with the request; and

(2) Special charges, the lesser of the cost of technology and labor actually incurred, or $45 per hour.

§ 236-6 Notice to requestor of copyright laws.

A. The Borough of Bergenfield may be compelled by New Jersey Law to produce or duplicate government records, but no compliance with these obligations shall be deemed to constitute a license, sublicense or waiver of copyright laws.

B. The Custodian of Documents shall give the following notice to any requestor of government records which may contain copyright materials:

	Notice – Copyright Laws
	You must comply with U.S. copyright laws. These laws may restrict your right to use, duplicate or modify the records provided to you by the Borough of Bergenfield. You should consult your own legal counsel on this, since severe civil and criminal penalties for violation of copyright laws are provided.

§ 236-7 Waivers for governmental or educational requestors.

The Mayor or Custodian of Documents may waive the fees or other charges otherwise chargeable if the requestor of governmental records is a governmental or educational entity.