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Town of Clarence, NY
Erie County
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Table of Contents
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[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Clarence as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 4-5-1978 by resolution]
The times and places that Records are available shall be between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday, inclusive, at the Town Hall, One Town Place, Clarence, New York.
The persons designated as records access officers are the Town Clerk, the Deputy Town Clerk and the department head having custody of such records. The records access officers are responsible for assuring that the Town personnel:
A. 
Maintain an up-to-date subject matter list.
B. 
Assist the requester in identifying requested records, if necessary.
C. 
Upon locating the records, take one (1) of the following actions:
(1) 
Make records available for inspection; or
(2) 
Deny access to the records in whole or in part and explain, in writing, the reasons therefor.
D. 
Upon request for copies of records:
(1) 
Make a copy available upon payment or offer to pay established fees; or
(2) 
Permit the requester to copy those records.
E. 
Upon request, certify that a record is a true copy.
F. 
Upon failure to locate records, certify that:
(1) 
The Town is not the custodian for such records; or
(2) 
The records of which the Town is a custodian cannot be found after diligent search.
A. 
Requests may be in writing or upon oral request.
B. 
The Town shall respond to any request reasonably describing the record or records sought within five (5) business days of receipt of the request.
C. 
A request shall reasonably describe the record or records sought, giving, when possible, dates, file designations and other information to describe the records sought.
D. 
If the Town does not provide or deny access to the records sought within five (5) business days, it shall furnish a written statement of the approximate date when the same shall be provided or denied. If access to records is neither granted nor denied within ten (10) business days after the date of acknowledgement of receipt of a request, the request may be construed as a denial of access that may be appealed.
A. 
The Town shall maintain a reasonably detailed current list by subject matter of all records in its possession.
B. 
The subject matter list shall be sufficiently detailed to permit identification of the category of the record sought.
C. 
The subject matter list shall be updated not less than twice a year.
A. 
The Town Board shall designate a person or body to hear appeals regarding denial of access to records.
B. 
Denial of access shall be in writing, stating the reason therefor and advising the person denied access of his or her right to appeal and identifying by name, title, business address and business telephone number the person or body to hear the appeal. A records access officer shall not hear an appeal.
C. 
Any person denied access to records may appeal within thirty (30) days of denial.
D. 
The time for deciding an appeal shall commence upon receipt of written appeal identifying:
(1) 
The date and location of a request for records.
(2) 
The records that were denied.
(3) 
The name and return address of the appellant.
E. 
The Town shall transmit copies of all appeals upon receipt thereof to the Committee on Open Government, Albany, New York.
F. 
The person or body designated to hear appeals shall inform the appellant and the Committee on Open Government of the determination, in writing, within seven (7) business days of receipt of an appeal.
G. 
Denial of access to a requested record shall be subject to court review, as provided in Article 78 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules.
A. 
There shall be no fee charged for the inspection of records nor for the search for records by Town personnel nor for certification of a copy of a record.
B. 
The fee for copying records shall be twenty-five cents ($0.25) per page for photocopies not exceeding nine by fourteen (9 x 14) inches.
C. 
If a record cannot be photocopied and it requires typing or handwriting or commercial copying, the person requesting such record shall be charged the cost of making such transcript.
The Town shall publicize by posting in a conspicuous location and/or by publication in a local newspaper of general circulation:
A. 
The location where records shall be made available for inspection and copying.
B. 
The name, title, business address and business telephone of the designated records access officer or officers.
C. 
The right to appeal by any person denied access to a record and the name and business address of the person or body to whom an appeal is to be directed.
[Adopted 7-27-1988 by resolution]
The Town Board designates the Town Clerk as records management officer for the Town of Clarence.
Records Retention and Disposition Schedule MU-1, issued pursuant to Article 57-A of the Arts and Cultural Affairs Law and containing legal minimum retention periods for municipal government records, is hereby adopted for use by all municipal officers in disposing of municipal government records listed therein.
In accordance with Article 57-A, only those records will be disposed of that are described in Records Retention and Disposition Schedule MU-1 after they have met the minimum retention period prescribed therein, and only those records will be disposed of that do not have sufficient administrative, fiscal, legal or historical value to merit retention beyond established time periods.