[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Trustees of the Village of Canastota as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 4-19-1976 as Ch. 29 of the 1976 Code]
The Village Board of Trustees hereby promulgates this set of rules[1] in accordance with Chapter 578 of the Laws of 1974.
[1]
Editor's Note: Administrative rules promulgated by the records access officer are on file in the office of the Village Clerk.
The Village Clerk is hereby designated as the records access officer of the Village of Canastota.
That persons seeking public records shall make application to the records access officer upon the application form supplied by such officer, in the event such records are not readily available.
The records access officer is hereby directed to make available to persons requesting records, those public records which, by law, are required to be made available for public inspection and copying. In the event the request for public records interferes with the operation of the office of the Village Clerk and makes it difficult for members of the public to receive the regular services of the Village Clerk, the records access officer is hereby authorized to establish hours during each day when she shall process requests for records including the times when such requests shall be made in order to enable her to find the records for review and copying. The times so established by the records access officer shall be conspicuously posted in the office of the Village Clerk.
The records access officer is authorized to copy any records which are within the purview of the law and to charge $0.25 per page. No records shall be reproduced until payment is first received.
No records shall be removed from the lawful custody of any public office charged with the duty of maintaining such records.
In the event any requests cannot be met because such records are being used for current working purposes, the applicant shall be advised of such fact and every effort will be made to arrange a specific time when such records will be available.
In the event a question arises as to the nature of the records, in that public viewing of such records may result in an unwarranted invasion of a citizen's personal privacy or may result in a disclosure of material that must be confidential to promote effective law enforcement, or for any other reason which, in the opinion of the records access officer, are valid to promote the public interest while consistent with the new law, the records access officer shall confer with the Village Attorney before determining if such records shall be made available for inspection.
In the event any person is denied access to any public records in violation of the law, that person shall advise the Village Board of Trustees of such denial in writing and set forth the records requested, the reason for denial and the fact that the fees for such records were, in fact, tendered.
The purpose of these regulations shall be to maintain the spirit of the law and to recognize that the concept of open records is consistent with the purpose of the Village Board of Trustees.