Survey of New Jersey Open Records Act Resources (Jersey City Mayor's Office)

Dear Adam Steinbaugh:

Thank you for your interest in open public records of Jersey City OPRA Center.  This will serve to acknowledge receipt of your Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request.  Your request was received in this office on 4/16/2024.  Kindly refer to the reference number E001716-041624 when communicating with our office in this regard.  Your request mentioned:
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

Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
Your request will be forwarded to the relevant City department(s) to locate the information you seek and to determine the volume and any costs associated with satisfying your request. You will be contacted about the availability and/or provided with copies of the records in question.  PLEASE NOTE: The State Public Information Act does not require a governmental body to create new information, to do legal research, or to answer questions.
You can track and monitor the progress of your request at the link below and you'll receive an email when your request has been completed. Again, thank you for using the Jersey City OPRA Center.
Jersey City, NJ

--- Please respond above this line ---

RE: OPEN PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of April 16, 2024, Reference # E001716-041624
Adam:

The City received a public information request from you on April 16, 2024. You requested: 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.

Upload documents directly: https://accounts.muckrock.com/accounts
Reference is made to your OPRA request captioned above.
Please note that the City is conducting its search and two additional weeks are needed for processing your request.
Thank you for your patience.
Sincerely,
John Hallanan
Deputy City Clerk
Office of City Clerk

--- Please respond above this line ---

RE: OPEN PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of April 16, 2024, Reference # E001716-041624

Dear Adam,

The City received a public information request from you on April 16, 2024. Your request mentioned:
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.

Upload documents directly: https://accounts.muckrock.com/accounts
Please be advised that the City does not keep records in such a way that would satisfy your request.

With regard to part 1, the City doesn’t have a budget dedicated to public records requests per se. The Office of the City Clerk is the office responsible for handling all public records requests filed with the City. Please log in to the Jersey City OPRA Center at the following link to retrieve a list of employees of the City Clerk’s Office who are assigned to handle public records requests and their salaries:
Open Public Records Act - E001716-041624
This record is responsive to part 1 and part 3 of your request. These employees do more than respond to public records requests, but it is a large part of their daily responsibilities. These staffers also process requests for vital records, i.e. Birth, Death and Marriage Certificates and Marriage Licenses.
Also please find the bill for the software platform GovQA which the City uses to manage OPRA requests. The salaries of those employees of the City Clerk’s Office who are assigned to handle public records requests, coupled with the operating fee for GovQA, represents the base line of expenses incurred by the City for responding to public records requests. With regard to part 4 of your request, considering the City has received 11,927 public records requests since January 1, 2022, producing a log of all such requests would be substantially disruptive to City operations as per
N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(g) because each individual request would need to be reviewed by the Law Department. Consequently, this part of your request, as currently worded, is denied. Please consider narrowing the scope your request. If you should have any questions, please respond to this email or call me at 201-547-4892.

Sincerely,
John Hallanan
Deputy City Clerk
Office of City Clerk