Dear Ms. Conway:

The Jefferson Township Clerk’s Office received your request (the “Request”) under the New Jersey Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq. (“OPRA”) and the common law right of access. In your request, you sought access to the following:

This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please acknowledge receipt of this message.
Records requested:
All records related to the home located at 7 Pathfinder Trail, including but not limited to construction department, health department, tax records, building department. Also information related to whether the home is serviced by public water/sewer or private well/septic.

Response: An OPRA request must identify the documents sought with specificity and particularity. Burke v. Brandes, 429 N.J. Super. 169, 175 (App. Div. 2012). A general request for documents is invalid under OPRA if such documents are not “reasonably described with such identifying information” sufficient to identify specific government records. See id. at 176-77. Moreover, “OPRA does not require record custodians to conduct research among its records for a requestor and correlate data from various government records in the custodian’s possession.” MAG Entertainment, LLC v. Div. of ABC, 375 N.J. Super. 534, 546-47 (App. Div. 2005).

OPRA is not a research tool, and it cannot be used “to force government officials to identify and siphon useful information.” See id. at 546. Rather, OPRA simply operates “to make identifiable government records “readily accessible for inspection, copying, or examination.” Ibid. (citing N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1). Furthermore, OPRA does not “authorize a party to make a blanket request for every document a public agency has on file.” Bent v. Twp. of Stafford Police Dep't, Custodian of Records, 381 N.J. Super. 30, 37 (App. Div. 2005)

In your Request, you fail to identify specific records. For this reason, I must deny your Request. See, e.g., N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1; MAG, supra, at 546-47; Bent, supra, at 37.

Please consider your request closed.

Best Regards,
Amanda L. Nevins, RMC, CMR
Deputy Township Clerk
Township of Jefferson
1033 Weldon Rd
Lake Hopatcong, NJ 07849
973-208-6132

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