Township of Mullica, NJ Article III Copying of Public Records

[Adopted 8-13-2002 by Ord. No. 10-2002]

§ 122-11 Custodian of public records.

The Township Committee of the Township of Mullica in accordance with N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 hereby appoints the Municipal Clerk as the custodian of public records for the Township of Mullica.

§ 122-12 Deputy custodians.

The following deputy custodians are hereby appointed as set forth by N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1:

A. Court Administrator and/or her designee.

B. Tax Collector and/or her designee.

C. Construction Official and/or her designee.

D. Tax Assessor and/or her designee.

E. Chief of Police and/or his designee.

F. Chief Financial Officer and/or her designee.

G. Public Works Director and/or his designee.

§ 122-13 Policy for access to records.

The Township Committee of the Township of Mullica also sets the following policy for access to public records;

A. The Municipal Clerk as custodian of Township records or the Chief of Police for police records or their appropriate designees in their absence, are authorized to physically give a government record to the public.

B. Records which are not readily available or which will require a search of records will be made available as soon as possible, and the applicant will be provided with an interim report within seven business days indicating the time which will be required to provide the records.

C. Duplication of a printed record under the Open Public Records Act shall be in compliance with N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq. For requests that a report be mailed, a municipality may add a charge for actual postage plus $0.25 for stationary-related expense. For police accident reports not requested in person and not part of Municipal Court discovery, the municipality may charge an additional fee of up to $5 for the first three pages and $1 per page thereafter to cover the administration costs of the report.

[Amended 9-28-2004 by Ord. No. 15-2004; 11-9-2010 by Ord. No. 15-2010]

D. The prepayment of a deposit in the amount $25 will be required when the estimated cost of reproduction will exceed $20. When a request is made by mail, the requestor will be responsible for the amount of postage due.

§ 122-14 Government records.

[Amended 3-24-2015 by Ord. No. 4-2015]

The term "government records" generally includes those records determined to be government records or records in accordance with N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1. The term does not include employee personnel and pension files, criminal investigation records, victim's records, police investigation records, interagency or intraagency advisory, consultative, or deliberative material, emergency or security information or procedures for buildings or facilities, administrative or technical information regarding computer hardware, software and networks which if disclosed would jeopardize computer security, information regarding labor-management negotiations, including statements of strategy or negotiating position, or other matters in which there is a right of privacy or confidentiality material which is specifically exempted by law.

§ 122-15 Additional charges.

A. The Township wishes to establish a rate for any extraordinary expenditure of time and effort necessary to accommodate a request for public records.

B. The following rates are established, and that the requestor shall have the opportunity to review and object to the charge prior to it being incurred:

(1) Actual copying costs if document cannot be copied by Township copying machine, i.e., plans, blueprints, etc.

(2) Actual hourly rate of employee who is required to perform tasks if request needs extraordinary expenditure of time or effort.

(3) Actual time spent by employee at employee's hourly rate if travel is required.