[HISTORY: Adopted by the Borough Council
of the Borough of Paramus 3-11-1997 by Ord. No. 97-11. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
The Borough of Paramus hereby creates a Borough
Public Records Policy governing public records created/governed by:
A.
All requests for public records shall be made through
the Borough Clerk's office on a form approved by the Borough. No request
for public records shall be honored without a properly filled out
form, except for documents requested 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 a pending
Bergen County Board of Taxation or New Jersey State Tax Court appeal(s).
B.
All requests for public records by taxpayers, citizens,
newspaper reporters, attorneys and other applicable parties directed
to department heads or other Borough officials/employees shall be
directed to the Borough Clerk's office, which will serve as the repository
of such requests and the dissemination of said forms to obtain public
records not within the Clerk's control/possession.
[Amended 4-2-2019 by Ord. No. 19-07]
A.
Upon receipt of a request for public records, if said
records are public, the Borough will endeavor to honor such request
within seven business days of the receipt of said request. "Working
days" are defined as Monday through Friday, excluding holidays and
weekends. However, there will be times when, due to the nature or
extent of the request or manpower, the Borough will be unable to honor
the request within seven business days; if such, the Borough shall
attempt to complete such request as soon as feasibly possible.
B.
All persons requesting public records must understand
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 public records shall, whenever
possible, be as specific as possible in seeking such records, and
the Borough reserves the right to reject a public records request
when it is random in nature or when it will involve the extensive
use of Borough employee time and/or presence of a Borough employee
to ensure security of the records in question.
[Amended 5-9-2000 by Ord. No. 00-14]
All requests for public records shall, except
for requests by Borough employees/officials acting in their official
capacity and nonprofit organizations, be subject to the Borough's
policy as to copying costs. Said policy as to copying costs is utilized
pursuant to the provisions as set forth in N.J.S.A. 47:1A-2, with
the exception that all audio tape reproduction shall be subject to
a ten-dollar copying fee for each reproduced tape. All audio tapes
are to be supplied by the person making such a request. If an individual/entity
does not supply a tape for recording, no such reproduction will occur.
The following records, or types of records,
which are not public and shall not be made available to public are,
but not limited to, the following:
A.
Records of a personal nature regarding Borough officials,
employees and/or other applicable individuals.
B.
Medical records of Borough officials, employees and/or
other applicable individuals.
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.
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, other than involving personnel matters,
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 public records do, in fact,
lead to the copying, review and/or release of such records. A public
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
vice versa, or it may be or may not be a public record under any other
legal statute, rules, regulation and/or court decision. The Borough
Clerk shall seek the opinion of the designated Borough attorney as
to whether or not a record is public if there is any question as to
its potential copying, review and/or release. The Borough Clerk's
actions on this type of matter shall be guided by such legal opinion.
[Added 10-24-2000 by Ord. No. 00-43]
A.
All public meetings of the Mayor and Council of the
Borough of Paramus shall be audiotape recorded and a copy of the recording
maintained for the period established by the State of New Jersey,
Department of State, Bureau of Archives.
B.
It shall be the duty of the Borough Clerk to ensure
that all public meetings are tape recorded and that the copies of
recordings are safely maintained and preserved as aforesaid.
