In an unpublished trial court decision released on May 21st, Mercer County Assignment Judge Linda Feinberg rejected the Mercer County Clerk’s argument that the “actual cost” of making a copy is relevant only when the governmental entity elects to charge more than the fixed OPRA rates. Rather, Feinberg held that language in OPRA Section 5(b) […]
Posted inNJ Open Government Notes
Custodians must accept written OPRA requests not submitted on official form
In a published decision released today, the Appellate Division ruled that while a custodian’s official OPRA request form “should”: be used, no written request for information “should be rejected” if the official form is not used. The decision is on-line here. (Renna v. County of Union, Appellate Docket No. A-0821-07T2) The ruling resolves a long-standing […]
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Custodians can choose transmission methods for OPRA requests
UPDATE: 10/03/15: The Government Records Council clarified the impact of Paff v. City of East Orange. Click here for the update. UPDATE 10/21/09: The Supreme Court declined to hear my appeal of the Appellate Division’s decision. In a published decision released today, the Appellate Division held that Section 5(g) of OPRA, which states: “[a] request […]
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Financial Disclosure Statement filing in your municipality
Several people have inquired as to exactly how they can find out a) which officials in their municipal government are required to file Financial Disclosure Statements, and b) whether each of those officials did in fact file. To make it easy, I’ve drafted a supplement that can be downloaded and attached to any municipality’s OPRA […]
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Penns Grove Councilwoman finally discloses 2007 finances
On March 18, 2008, I complained to the Local Finance Board (LFB) that several members of the Penns Grove Borough (Salem County) Council failed to file the Financial Disclosure Statements that were due on or before April 30, 2007. Earlier this year, I reported that all but one of the Council members–Councilwoman Carol Mincey–had belatedly […]