[Adopted 11-1-1979 by Ord. No. 213; amended in its entirety 8-7-2003 by Ord. No.
536 (Ch. 78, Art. I, of the 1977 Township Code)]
A.
Scope of records available.
(1)
All governmental records of the Township of Upper Deerfield shall
be subject to public access unless exempt pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1
et seq., as amended or supplemented, or pursuant to any other statute,
resolution of either or both houses of the New Jersey Legislature,
or regulation promulgated under the authority of any statute or executive
order of the Governor, rule of court or any federal law, regulation
or order.
(2)
The Township of Upper Deerfield shall safeguard from public access
a citizen's personal information entrusted to it and protect
against disclosure that would violate a citizen's reasonable
expectation of privacy.
(a)
Nothing contained herein shall be construed as affecting the
common law right of access to any record, including any criminal investigatory
record, in possession of the Township of Upper Deerfield.
(b)
Access to public records by inmates with respect to a victim's
personal identifying information and records of any investigations
in progress shall not be provided in accordance with N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1
et seq.
(c)
Prior to allowing access to any governmental record, the custodian
shall redact from any record any information which discloses a social
security number, credit card number, unlisted telephone number or
driver's license number of any person, except to the extent that
such information is sought by any governmental agency, including any
court or law enforcement agency, in carrying out its functions or
by any private person seeking to enforce payment of any court-ordered
child support; provided, however, that a social security number contained
in a record required by law to be maintained or kept by the Township
of Upper Deerfield shall be disclosed when access to the document
or disclosure of such information is not otherwise prohibited by state
or federal law, regulation or order, or by state statute, resolution
of either or both houses of the legislature, or executive order of
the government, rule of court or a regulation promulgated under the
authority of any statute or executive order of the Governor.
(d)
Files maintained by the office of the Public Defender of the
Township of Upper Deerfield relating to the handling of any case shall
be confidential and not open to inspection unless authorized by law,
court order, or the Public Defender.
B.
Medium and cost of requested records. The Custodian of Records of
the Township of Upper Deerfield shall permit access to a government
record and provide a copy thereof in the medium requested by the requesting
party or such other meaningful medium as is possible. In the event
that the request for a record which is not routinely developed or
maintained by the Township of Upper Deerfield requires a substantial
amount of manipulation, programming or other effort, in addition to
the actual cost of duplication, a special charge that shall be reasonable
and based upon the cost of any additional effort by the Custodian
of Records shall be disclosed to the requesting party and charged
by the Township of Upper Deerfield for the labor cost of personnel
providing the service that is actually incurred by the Township in
providing the requested records.
C.
Immediate access to certain records. Immediate access shall ordinarily
be granted to budgets, bills, vouchers, contracts, including collective
negotiation agreements and individual employment contracts, and public
employee salary and overtime information, subject to the foregoing.
D.
Response to request for records; time limits.
(1)
Any request for access to a government record of the Township of
Upper Deerfield shall be in writing and hand delivered, mailed or
transmitted or conveyed to the Clerk of the Township of Upper Deerfield.
Any portion of government records which are exempt from access shall
be deleted or excised from copies of any records provided to the requesting
party. If any government records are temporarily unavailable, the
requesting party shall be promptly advised. If access to any government
record would substantially disrupt the operations of the Township,
the Clerk may deny access to the record after attempting to reach
a reasonable solution with the requesting party.
(2)
Unless a shorter time is otherwise provided by statute, regulation
or executive order, the Clerk of the Township of Upper Deerfield shall
grant access to records or deny requests for records as soon as possible
but not later than seven business days after receiving the request,
not including the date of the request. A prompt response shall be
made to the requesting party at the telephone number or address provided
by the requesting party and, if not, at the time the requesting party
reappears before the Clerk seeking a response to the original request.
If records are unavailable or archived, the requesting party shall
be notified within seven days after the request is received and advised
when the records can be made available.
E.
Denial of records; appeal. The Clerk shall prominently post in public
view in areas that are open to the public a statement in clear, concise
and specific terms of the right to appeal a denial of or failure to
provide access to records of the Township of Upper Deerfield in accordance
with this article and N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq.
F.
Limited availability of personnel records. Personnel or pension records
of employees of the Township of Upper Deerfield shall not be considered
as including any records of grievances filed by or against any individual
and shall not be considered government records pursuant to this article,
except that an individual's name, title, position, salary, payroll
records, length of service, date of separation and any reason therefor,
and the type of any pension received shall be considered government
records pursuant to this article.
G.
Construction consistent with Open Public Records Act. This article
shall be construed in accordance with the provisions of N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1
et seq., together with any case law, amendments, supplements, changes
or regulations promulgated thereunder.
A.
All government records of the Township of Upper Deerfield which are
to be made available upon request shall be made available for inspection
at no charge.
B.
Photocopies for such records shall be made available at the rate
of $0.75 per page for the first through 10th pages, and $0.50 for
the 11th through 20th pages, and $0.25 per page for every page thereafter,
in conformance with N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5, as amended from time to time.[1]
C.
The sum of $10 shall be charged for any photographs which must be
reproduced by obtaining a photographic print from a negative.
D.
Record
reproductions on disk or e-mail (electronic fee for sharing tax information
with search companies): $10 per electronic transmission.
[Added 12-15-2005 by Ord. No. 565]
No charge or fee shall be made for the furnishing of copies
of records, reports, documents, photographs and other information
to any federal, state, county or municipal law enforcement department
or agency.
All requests for copies of records, reports, documents or photographs
prepared, maintained and kept by the Township of Upper Deerfield shall
be made in writing upon a form approved by the Township Clerk of the
Township of Upper Deerfield.
Before copies of records and other documents are provided to
the applicant, all required fees shall be paid to the custodian of
such records or other person designated by the Township Committee
for this purpose, and all fees shall be payable to the Township of
Upper Deerfield and shall be promptly remitted to the Township Treasurer.
