[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.
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.
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.