[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council of the Borough of Hillsdale
as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Fees — See Ch. 138.
[Adopted 7-8-1997 by Ord.
No. 97-13]
The Borough of Hillsdale hereby creates a Borough public records policy
governing public records created/governed by:
All requests for records shall be made through the Borough Clerk's Office
on a form approved by the Borough. No request for records shall be honored
without a properly filled out form, except for document requests by the Mayor
and/or Borough Council, the Borough Attorney or other Borough Special Counsel
and tax record cards requested by taxpayers of the Tax Assessor, pursuant
to pending Bergen County Board of Taxation or New Jersey State Court appeal(s).
All requests for public records directed to department heads or other
Borough officials/employees shall be directed to the Borough Clerk's Office,
which will serve as the depository of such requests and the dissemination
of said forms to obtain public records not within the Clerk's control/possession.
[Amended 4-10-2007 by Ord. No. 07-17]
Upon receipt of a request for records, if said records are public, the
Borough will endeavor to respond to the request within seven days of the receipt
of said request. Working days are defined as Monday through Friday, excluding
holidays.
All persons requesting records will be advised that the public business
of the Borough will take precedence over a record request, especially where
such request is a broad or far reaching information request.
All requests for records shall be as specific as possible to the Borough.
[Amended 4-10-2007 by Ord. No. 07-17]
Copying costs shall be payable in accordance with statute and supplemented by the schedule in Chapter 138.
The following records, or types of records which are not public and
shall not be made available to the public, include but are not limited to,
the following:
A.
Records of a personal nature regarding Borough officials,
employees and/or other applicable individuals;
B.
Medical records;
C.
All records exempted by state and/or federal statutes,
rules and/or regulations;
D.
All records exempted by presidential and/or gubernatorial
executive order;
E.
All records which are not included in the definition
of "public records" pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq. where applicable;
F.
Confidential police investigation reports;
G.
Work product or notes of Borough officials/employees;
and
H.
Council closed session minutes involving personnel matters.
Council open session minutes shall not be considered public records until
such time as they are approved by the Borough Council. Council closed session
minutes shall not be considered public records until such time as they are
approved by the Borough Council and the matter(s) in question have been concluded
pursuant to the provisions of N.J.S.A. 10:4-6 et seq. A report prepared for
review by the Mayor and Borough Council shall not be deemed a public record
until at least seven calendar days after disbursement of the report by the
Borough Clerk to the Mayor and Council or the next Council meeting, whichever
is later.
Not all requests for records do, in fact, lead to the copying, review
and/or release of such records. A record may be a public record under common
law, but may not be a public record under the Right To Know Law (N.J.S.A.
47:1A-1 et seq.) or it may be or may not be a public record under any other
legal statute, rules, regulations and/or court decision. The Borough Clerk
shall seek the opinion of the Borough Attorney as to whether or not a record
is public if there is any question as to its release. The Borough Clerk's
actions on this type of matter shall be guided by such legal opinion.
