At its May 6, 2009 meeting, the Board of Commissioners for the Borough of Longport Borough (Atlantic County) agreed to settle my Open Public Records Act and Open Public Meetings Act suit. I sued Longport, along with sixteen other Atlantic County municipalities last September, because the Borough failed to provide me with closed session minutes […]
Posted inNJ Open Government Notes
How long before a meeting must an agenda be available?
The following question often arises: How long before a meeting must a public body make its meeting agenda available to the public? My town council has an annoying habit of not preparing its meeting agendas until about a half hour before the meeting starts. This makes it impossible for people to prepare their comments and […]
Posted inNJ Open Government Notes
GRC requested (again) to amend Advisory Opinion 2006-1
Following is the text of a letter I sent to the Government Records Council today following up on my earlier requests for a rule change allowing records requestors to submit requests on either the agency’s specific request form or the GRC’s model request form. The letter, with attachments, is on-line here. John PaffSomerset, New Jersey […]
Posted inNJ Civil Settlements
Teacher accepts $2,000 to settle civil case against Barrington School District
This is a follow-up to my earlier posting regarding the $200,000 civil settlement reached in 2008 between nine former Barrington middle school students and the Barrington school district arising out the girls’ claims regarding a “sexually hostile environment” at the Woodland School. Today, I learned that Richard Morgenroth, the teacher who the girls’ claims engaged […]
Posted inNJ Open Government Notes
Holding the line on indefinite OPRA due dates
I frequently get responses from custodians that tell me that I’ll get my records at some later, unspecified date. Here is my response to one such custodian. I thought I’d share it in case others want to use it. John PaffSomerset, New Jersey I am in receipt of your April 13, 2009 letter and the […]