Please see the attached letter regarding your request.

Thank you,

Deanna Perez

Secretary

Burlington County Legal Department

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Good afternoon,

Please be advised that in Rodriguez v. Kean Univ., GRC Complaint No. 2013-69 (March 2014), the Council reversed its prior, longstanding policy that barred a custodian from merely directing a requestor to an agency’s website to obtain records responsive to an OPRA request. In reaching the new conclusion, the Council noted that “[t]he Legislature incorporated the notion of ‘reasonableness’ into several sections of OPRA.” Id. at 4 (citing N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1; N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(c)-(d); N.J.S.A. 47:1A5(g); N.J.S.A. 47:1A-6, 7(f)). The Council thus set a reasonable policy by which a custodian may direct a requestor to records on the Internet:

[A] custodian shall direct a requestor, with reasonable clarity, to the specific location on the Internet where the responsive records reside. This shall include, if necessary, directions for accessing the responsive document that would be comprehensible to a reasonable person, including but not limited to providing a link to the exact location of the requested document. However, a custodian’s ability to direct a requestor to the specific location of a government record on the Internet is contingent upon on the requestor’s ability to electronically access the records. Thus, a custodian is not absolved from providing the record in hardcopy if the requestor is unable to obtain the information from the Internet and makes it known to the custodian within seven (7) business days after receipt of the custodian’s response, in which case the custodian will have seven (7) business days from the date of such notice to disclose the record(s) in hardcopy. [Id. at 4 (footnote omitted).]

As such, providing a requestor with a direct link to access the requested documents on the website is a proper response to an OPRA request per the above decision. Thank you for the opportunity to be of assistance.

Deanna Perez
Secretary
Burlington County Legal Department

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Good morning,

Please see the link below.

https://bcnj.co.burlington.nj.us/Pages/P...

Thank you,

Deanna Perez
Secretary
Burlington County Legal Department

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