New Open Public
Records Act
July 2001
A new state ‘Open Public Records Act” (known as the “OPRA” law) implemented
on July 8th should make it easier to get information from public officials
at your local town hall. OPRA is a boon to news gathering organizations and
advocacy groups like CLEAN who rely on public documents for information on
land-use and zoning ordinances, minutes and agendas of public meetings, and
resolutions and ordinances. Officials will no longer be able to hide potentially
embarrassing information, or delay its release.
OPRA provides a clear definition of a ‘public record’ to include most documents,
expanding the definition to include all records, whether paper or electronic,
e-mail, charts, maps, and photographs.
Exceptions are those documents containing personal information such as social
security numbers, unlisted telephone numbers, or medical records of public
employees. That information must be obscured before a document can be released.
Also excluded are documents relating to individual student records, information
on sexual harassment complaints, documents protected by attorney/client privilege,
and information that if disclosed, would jeopardize the security of the building
or persons therein.
The law lays out specific procedures for requesting documents, and provides
a time frame for response from the public office where the document is requested,
with a maximum of 7 days (reduced from 30 days). Public agencies who don’t
comply may be facing fines of up to $5,000. An agency will be created to
mediate any disputes created by the law, and citizens can collect their legal
fees should they prevail.
The law provides for access at the state, county, and local level. Each public
agency must designate a “custodian” responsible for responding to the request.
On the municipal level, the custodian will be the Township or Borough Clerk,
although some towns have sub-custodians in various departments. The custodian
is responsible to ensure that requests are met within the mandated time frame.
A written request must be submitted to the public agency.
The Bergen Record has already put the law to the test. The paper made requests
of all Passaic County municipalities on the first day the law went into effect,
requesting, in language an average citizen might use, a “copy of the contract
or ordinance covering the terms of employment for the municipality’s police
chief (or police director), including any amendments or provisions relating
to, or in anticipation of, retirement or other termination of employment.”
The paper encountered varying of levels of compliance to the request. For
our region, Wanaque and Bloomingdale both earned the highest rating, (4 stars)
by providing complete information within 24 hours. Ringwood (3 stars) provided
information on a timely basis, but left out duties, responsibilities, and
salary information. West Milford took a full 7 days to reply due to the Town
Clerk’s vacation then produced incomplete information, (leaving out benefit
information), earning only 2 out of a possible 4 stars.
Who to contact in your town: