Correspondance about Covanta
Dear Camden County,
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:
1) Documentation of all correspondence between Camden County and Covanta Camden Energy Recovery Center since January 1st, 2021, including any emails with “Covanta” in the header or message body.
2) Documentation of all correspondence between Camden County and municipalities within the county regarding Covanta Camden Energy Recovery Center since January 1st, 2021, including emails with “Covanta” in the header or message body.
For purposes of this request, the term "records" means information of any kind, including, but not limited to, documents (handwritten, typed, electronic or otherwise produced, reproduced, or stored), letters, e-mails, text messages, facsimiles, memoranda, correspondence, notes, databases, drawings, graphs, charts, photographs, maps, forms, minutes of meetings, electronic and magnetic recordings, and any other compilation of data from which information can be obtained, no matter the media upon which it is stored or whether communications took place on public or private electronic devices or phone or email accounts.
If the Municipality believes the records exist that are responsive to this request, but those records or portions of those records are believed to be exempt from disclosure, please identify the records that are being withheld. Please state the basis for the denial for each record being withheld including statute, regulation or court decision. Please cite that law or case, including the specific section or sections you rely upon, in your written response. In addition, please provide the nonexempt portion of the records.
If the Municipality does not possess or control these records but knows or believes that another entity does, please forward this request to the appropriate person and inform me that you have done so.
N.J.S.A.47:1A-5(d) states: "A custodian shall permit access to a government record and provide a copy thereof in the medium requested if the public agency maintains the record in that medium. If the public agency does not maintain the record in the medium requested, the custodian shall either convert the record to the medium requested or provide a copy in some other meaningful medium." Pursuant to 47:1A-5(d), please provide the records in searchable, commonly-available electronic formats, such as text or HTML formatted emails, PDF files, CSV spreadsheets, or Microsoft Office formats. Files already in any of these formats are requested to be provided in their native formats for ease of use and for minimal burden on Municipality staff. Please know that electronic records that are printed and scanned, making them unsearchable will be deemed a denial of this request and will leave the Municipality subject to legal appeal.
I ask that the fees be waived in accordance with N.J.S.A.47:1A-5(b) which states: “Access to electronic records and non-printed materials shall be provided free of charge.”
Please provide these records here. If files are unusually large, please consult me to arrange the least-cost method for transmitting the files. I will only accept paper copies of files that do not exist in readable electronic formats.
Please respond within 7 business days per N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(i). Please transmit the materials to me as they become available, rather than wait for all records to become available to dispense. If you have any questions regarding this request, please contact me.
Finally, please confirm receipt of this Open Public Records Act request.
Yours faithfully,
Vanessa Levy
Dear Vanessa Levy,
Thank you for registering with the Camden County Open Public Records
Center. Please log in to the Records Center to update any contact or
password information and to track the progress of your request.
Login: [OPRA #24491 email]
If you have never used this system or cannot remember your password you
may request a temporary password here:
Request Temporary Password [1]here.
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References
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Maria Efstratiades
Custodian of Records Telephone: (856) 225 – 2131
Camden County Administration
520 Market Street, 11th Floor
Camden, NJ 08102-1375
Dear Vanessa Levy:
Thank you for submitting an Open Public Records request with Camden
County. Your request was given the reference number W019080-070821 for
tracking purposes.
Our office will forward your request to the appropriate Department for
their review and search of their files for the requested records. A
written response will be send to you within seven business days or sooner
depending on the type of records requested.
Please note that day one of the calculation begins the day after the
custodian receives your OPRA request. This calculation applies to the
agency’s actual business days of operations which are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30
p.m. If the agency is closed for a holiday, this date does not count
towards the seven business day deadline. If any request received after
the close of a business day will be deemed received on the next business
day.
You may monitor the progress of your request at the link below.
Additionally, you will receive an email from our office to inform you
that your request has been completed and a response is posted at the below
link.
Again, thank you for using the Open Public Records Center.
Open Public Records Center
- [1]http://www.camdencounty.com/open-public-...
Maria Efstratiades
Custodian of Records
References
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--- Please respond above this line ---
Maria Efstratiades
Custodian of Records Telephone: (856) 225 – 2131
Camden County Administration
520 Market Street, 11th Floor
Camden, NJ 08102-1375
Please DO NOT REPLY to this email. This mailbox is not monitored and you
will not receive a response. FOR FURTHER CORRESPONDENCE PLEASE send an
email to [1][email address] or GENERATE A NEW REQUEST
THROUGH THE OPEN RECORDS CENTER.
07/20/2021
RE: OPRA REQUEST of 7/8/2021, Reference # W019080-070821
Dear Vanessa Levy,
The Camden County Custodian of Records received your Open Public Records
Act request on 7/8/2021. To access your request please click [2]here.
Your request for “1) Documentation of all correspondence between Camden
County and Covanta Camden Energy Recovery Center since January 1st, 2021,
including any emails with “Covanta” in the header or message body. 2)
Documentation of all correspondence between Camden County and
municipalities within the county regarding Covanta Camden Energy Recovery
Center since January 1st, 2021, including emails with “Covanta” in the
header or message body.” is too broad, contains insufficient information
and seeks documents that are not specifically “identifiable” for the
Camden County Office of Information Technology and Telecommunications
(I.T.) to gather a response. Additionally, your request is not a valid
request for emails. Specifically, your request does not identify an email
address for sender(s) and/or recipient(s). As such, this request is a
wholesale request for information that is not encompassed by the intent of
OPRA as has been articulated in N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1, et. seq. and MAG
Entertainment v. Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 375 N.J. Super.
534 (App. Div. 2005).
However, in an attempt to fulfill your request, I.T. conducted a search of
all County email mailboxes for the term “Covanta” in the subject and/or
body and provided over 1,800 emails.
The results of this search are voluminous and reviewing these records will
require an extraordinary expenditure of time and effort which warrants for
a special service charge pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5.c.
Our office calculated the special service charge in the following manner:
For emails where "Covanta" is mentioned in the subject and/or body during
the time period between January 1, 2021 to present, a staff member from
our office will review the emails and redact any exempt information if/and
where necessary pursuant to the OPRA. This staff member will require
approximately 317 hours of work at an hourly rate of $24.305 per hour -
the hourly rate of the lowest level employee capable of fulfilling this
request (no fringe benefits). The total special service charge is
$7,704.69.
OPRA allows public agencies to impose special service charges whenever the
nature, format, manner of collation, or volume of a government record
embodied in the form of printed matter to be inspected, examined, or
copied pursuant to this section is such that the record cannot be
reproduced by ordinary document copying equipment in ordinary business
size or when fulfilling a request requires an extraordinary expenditure of
time and effort. See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5.c. As such, special service charge
must be based upon the actual direct cost which means hourly rate of the
lowest level employee capable of fulfilling the request with no fringe
benefits. Additionally, OPRA mandates that the requestor shall have the
opportunity to review and object to the charge prior to it being incurred.
See N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5.c.
Kindly respond in writing no later than July 30, 2021, with your
acceptance or rejection of the special service charge of $7,704.69.
The Custodian of Records will not begin to process the responses to your
request until we receive your written acceptance and check. If you respond
via email, please send an email to [3][Camden County request email]. If
you prefer to send regular mail, please use the address listed below the
Custodian's signature line.
Upon receipt of the authorization and check of $7,704.69, payable to
"Camden County Treasurer", we will inform you as to the expected
completion date.
If we do not receive a response from you by the aforementioned date, we
will consider the request completed and closed.
Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1, et seq. if your request for access to a
government record has been denied or unfilled within the seven (7)
business days required by law, you have a right to challenge the decision
by the County of Camden to deny access. As provided by law, you have the
right to either institute a proceeding in the Superior Court of New Jersey
or file a complaint with the Government Records Council (GRC) by
completing their Denial of Access Complaint Form located at the GRC’s
website at [4]www.state.nj.us/grc.
You may contact the GRC by toll-free telephone at 866-850-0511, by mail at
P.O. Box 819, Trenton, NJ, 08625, by e-mail at [5][email address]. The
GRC can also answer other questions about the law. All questions regarding
complaints filed in Superior Court should be directed to the Superior
Court.
Should you have any questions, please contact the Custodian of Records at
(856) 225-2131.
Sincerely,
Steffani Lon for
Maria Efstratiades
Maria Efstratiades
Custodian of Records
Camden County
Office of Archives & Records Management
Courthouse, 11th Floor
520 Market Street
Camden, NJ 08102-1375
Phone: (856) 225-2131
E-mail: [6][email address]
This is an auto-generated email and has originated from an unmonitored
email account. Please DO NOT REPLY. FOR FURTHER CORRESPONDENCE PLEASE
GENERATE A NEW REQUEST THROUGH THE OPEN RECORDS CENTER.
References
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3. mailto:[Camden County request email]
4. file:///tmp/www.state.nj.us/grc
5. mailto:[email address]
6. mailto:[email address]
Dear Camden County OPRA Center,
I was asked to respond in writing no later than July 30th, 2021 but I was out of town. I hope this late response suffices. Instead of accepting the special service charge, I would like to narrow my request. Please let me know if I need to submit a new response in order to narrow my request. I am now requesting the following records:
1) Emails with Camden County and Covanta, the company that runs the Covanta Camden Energy Recovery Center, beginning on February 1st, 2021 as indicated by the search term "Covanta" in the to, from, or cc lines of emails.
Please let me know if there will still be a service charge fee and if so, how much. Thank you again for your time and help.
Yours sincerely,
Vanessa Levy