The Rouses Point Village Board hereby promulgates this chapter in accordance
with Chapter 578 of the Laws of 1974.
The Village Clerk is hereby designated as the Records Access Officer
of the Village of Rouses Point.
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 he shall process requests for records,
including the times when such requests shall be made, in order to enable him
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.
No records shall be removed from the lawful custody of any public officer
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
reasons 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 Rouses Point Village Board 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.
These regulations shall be temporary and considered as such until the
state guidelines are promulgated and until more comprehensive regulations
can be prepared.
The purpose of such 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 this Rouses Point Village Board.