Complete Streets, related Street Construction Contractor engagements
Dear Millburn Township,
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:
A summary of contracts entered into with contractors for street modification construction / demolition or other activities related to the 'Complete Streets' project or subsequent related alterations, including undoing the same. Up to and including the present.
This should include contractor name, any NJ licensing or identification #s, business office address, starting engagement date, ending date, initial monetary amount agreed, final monetary amount paid, bid or no-bid status (were public bids solicited).
For each contract, if there were bids requested, a copy of the notice
A description of how public bids were solicited - i.e. through what channels.
Yours faithfully,
Marc Cooperman
Mr. Cooperman,
In regards to your below request for a " summary of contracts entered into with contractors for street modification construction / demolition or other activities related to the 'Complete Streets' project or subsequent related alterations, including undoing the same. Up to and including the present" is overly broad and fails to specifically identify the documents sought. If a request does not name specifically identifiable records or is overly broad, a custodian may deny access pursuant to the following court decisions: MAG Entertainment, LLC v. Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 375 N.J. Super. 534 (App. Div. 2005), Bent v. Stafford Police Department, 381 N.J. Super. 30 (App. Div. 2005), New Jersey Builders Association v. New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing, 390 N.J. Super. 166 (App. Div. 2007), and Schuler v. Borough of Bloomsbury, GRC Complaint No. 2007-151 (February 2009). Requestors shall identify types of records, reasonable date ranges, parties to correspondence, subject matter, etc. A custodian is obligated to search their files to find the identifiable government records listed in the complainant’s OPRA request. “While an exact definition of an impermissibly overly broad request is abstract, courts have found requests that require a custodian to exercise his discretion, survey employees, or undertake research to determine whether a record is responsive are overly broad and not encompassed by OPRA.” CHRIS DOE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY, & CASEY WOODS in his Official Capacity as the OPRA Adm'r & Records Custodian of RUTGERS UNIVERSITY, Defendants-Respondents., No. A-5285-18T2, 2021 WL 100236, at *5 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. Jan. 12, 2021). Further, an OPRA applicant “must identify with reasonable clarity those documents that are desired, and a party cannot satisfy this requirement by simply requesting all of an agency's documents. OPRA does not authorize unbridled searches of an agency's property.” Bent, 381 N.J. Super. at 37; see also Renna v. Cnty. of Union, 407 N.J. Super. 230, 245 (App. Div. 2009). A custodian is not required to research their files to figure out which records, if any, might be responsive to a broad and unclear OPRA request.
If you would like to research contracts approved by the Township Committee, all approved Township Committee minutes are available on our website from 2013 to present at https://www.twp.millburn.nj.us/AgendaCen.... If you would to request a copy of a specific contract please advise year of contract, name of contractor and project. Questions are not addressed under the Open Public Records Act (OPRA) and an OPRA Request is a request for a specific record. Please do not hesitate to contact town hall directly if you require assistance.
Christine A. Gatti, RMC
Millburn Township Municipal Clerk
(973) 564-7073
@MillburnTwp
http://www.twp.millburn.nj.us/
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