Survey of New Jersey Open Records Act Resources (City of Elizabeth (NJ))
| Multi Request | Survey of New Jersey Open Records Act Resources |
| Submitted | April 14, 2024 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Adam Steinbaugh
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the New Jersey Open Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
1. A copy of any budget, accounting, or other records sufficient to show the expenses or resources necessary for the city (including any departments thereof) to respond to public records requests.
2. A copy of the job description for any person (whether employed by the city or any departments thereof) whose primary responsibilities include responding to or managing public records requests. If a separate record identifies the anticipated or actual amount of time the person spends on their duties (i.e., identifying how much of their time is spent on a given subject), please provide that record, as well.
3. Any record sufficient to show the salary of any person (whether employed by the city or any departments thereof) whose primary responsibilities include responding to or managing public records requests.
4. If the city maintains a log of public records requests, please provide a copy of the log dating back to January 1, 2022.
Requests 1-3 are limited to documents generated during or concerning the last fiscal year.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 7 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Adam Steinbaugh
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New Jersey Open Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on April 16, 2024. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: City of Elizabeth (NJ)
Good afternoon Mr. Steinbaugh,
This email is in response to your request for public records to the City Clerk of the City of Elizabeth pursuant to the New Jersey Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq. (OPRA). You made four itemized requests for various records regarding the resources and time needed for the City of Elizabeth to respond to OPRA requests. The City's responses are enumerated below.
Regarding your first request, no responsive record exists. There are no funds specifically allocated for responding to OPRA requests.
Regarding your second request, please be advised that there is no one employee “whose primary responsibilities include responding to or managing public records requests.” OPRA requests are submitted to the City Clerk’s Office and then disseminated to the relevant department(s) to retrieve the requested record. Occasionally, some requests require attorney review which is handled by the Law Department. Accordingly, OPRA is not the primary responsibility of any one employee. Accordingly, no job descriptions can be provided with the request as currently written. Furthermore, there is no record identifying how much time an employee spends on a given subject.
Regarding your third request, this cannot be provided for the reasons stated above. You can file a new OPRA request or respond to this email to clarify or modify your request based on the information provided on how the City of Elizabeth responds to OPRA requests.
Regarding your fourth request, please see the attached logs from January 1, 2022 to present. There are two separate logs for 2022 because OPRA requests made directly to the Records Bureau of the Elizabeth Police Department were initially recorded separately until 2023.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Thank you and stay well,
Samantha J. Castrelos, Esq.
Special Counsel
City of Elizabeth, Law Department
50 Winfield Scott Plaza, Room 201
Elizabeth, New Jersey 07201
(908) 820-4009
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