Correspondence from Morris County Prosecutor Re: PSD Michael Peoples/Long Hill Police
Dear Long Hill Township,
Please accept this electronic request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form or use a particular software platform to submit my request per NJSA 47:1A-6(f), which states that an email from a requestor including all of the information required on the adopted form shall suffice in place of a completed form as a valid government record request.
I HAVE NOT been convicted of any indictable offense under the laws of New Jersey, any other state, or the United States.
I WILL NOT use the requested government records for a commercial purpose.
I AM NOT seeking records in connection with a legal proceeding.
Records requested:
"All correspondence, by email, physical letter, or otherwise, sent to Longhill Twp Officials, on or about September of 2024, from, or on behalf of Prosecutor Robert Carroll of the Morris County Prosecutor's Office, regarding a "review of a draft township ordinance related to the (Long Hill) police department"
According to Daily Record News reports of 7/24/2025, quotes in this letter also suggested the authority granted in (Former Public Safety Director Michael) Peoples' contract "goes well beyond what is permissible."
and further that,
"The civilian public safety director may not serve as the executive head of the Long Hill Police Department," Carroll wrote. "This is a role reserved for a sworn law enforcement officer. The town must appoint an officer-in-charge."
My preferred delivery method for response(s) to this request is by E-mail as attachments. Please confirm you have received this request. If you are not the custodian of records, please forward my request to that person and provide their email address to me for future reference.
Yours faithfully,
Stephen Jones
Mr. Jones,
Please be more specific when you say Long Hill Township Officials and provide a specific timeframe to proceed with your request.
Best regards,
Megan Phillips RMC, CMR
Municipal Clerk
Township of Long Hill
915 Valley Road
Gillette, NJ 07933
(908) 647-8000 ext 215
-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Jones <[OPRA #78947 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2025 2:15 PM
To: Megan Phillips <[Long Hill Township request email]>
Subject: OPRA request - Correspondence from Morris County Prosecutor Re: PSD Michael Peoples/Long Hill Police
Dear Long Hill Township,
Please accept this electronic request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form or use a particular software platform to submit my request per NJSA 47:1A-6(f), which states that an email from a requestor including all of the information required on the adopted form shall suffice in place of a completed form as a valid government record request.
I HAVE NOT been convicted of any indictable offense under the laws of New Jersey, any other state, or the United States.
I WILL NOT use the requested government records for a commercial purpose.
I AM NOT seeking records in connection with a legal proceeding.
Records requested:
"All correspondence, by email, physical letter, or otherwise, sent to Longhill Twp Officials, on or about September of 2024, from, or on behalf of Prosecutor Robert Carroll of the Morris County Prosecutor's Office, regarding a "review of a draft township ordinance related to the (Long Hill) police department"
According to Daily Record News reports of 7/24/2025, quotes in this letter also suggested the authority granted in (Former Public Safety Director Michael) Peoples' contract "goes well beyond what is permissible."
and further that,
"The civilian public safety director may not serve as the executive head of the Long Hill Police Department," Carroll wrote. "This is a role reserved for a sworn law enforcement officer. The town must appoint an officer-in-charge."
My preferred delivery method for response(s) to this request is by E-mail as attachments. Please confirm you have received this request. If you are not the custodian of records, please forward my request to that person and provide their email address to me for future reference.
Yours faithfully,
Stephen Jones
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[OPRA #78947 email]
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Dear Megan Phillips,
Please see below for the clarification you request:
"Long Hill Township Officials" would be one or more of the following titles, and/or named individuals:
Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Township Committee Member, or Township Administrator
Guy Piserchia
Matthew Dorsi
Aubrey Reichard-Eline
Victor Verlezza
Scott Lavender
Randy Bahr
"specific timeframe" would be:
8-1-2024 to 10-31-2024
Yours sincerely,
Stephen Jones
Dear Megan Phillips,
Just wanted to make sure you received my response of July 31 with the clarifications you requested, and also to see if you had an estimate on a response. Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Stephen Jones
Dear Megan Phillips,
I haven't heard back from you since my response to the "clarification" that you requested, so in order to assist you better in promptly fulfilling my OPRA request and cutting through the bureaucracy here, I did some further investigation and uncovered that the Echoes-Sentinel Newspaper OPRA'd the same exact information from you that I am currently seeking now, in September of 2024.
According to an article published by the Editor, Solace Church on 7/15/2025, your Township, and presumably you as the records custodian, provided them the following:
"Letters and email correspondence, obtained by the Echoes-Sentinel through an OPRA (Open Public Records Act) in September 2024, revealed an approximate five-month back-and-forth between the county and township officials about what the public safety director can and can’t do."
If you need me to, I can OPRA the results of that OPRA by the Echoes-Sentinel separately, or you can just provide those results here, which should close out this present OPRA for you.
Thank you!
Yours sincerely,
Stephen Jones
Mr. Jones,
Please see the attached to satisfy your OPRA request.
Best regards,
Megan Phillips RMC, CMR
Municipal Clerk
Township of Long Hill
915 Valley Road
Gillette, NJ 07933
(908) 647-8000 ext 215
-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Jones <[OPRA #78947 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2025 10:19 PM
To: Megan Phillips <[Long Hill Township request email]>
Subject: RE: OPRA request - Correspondence from Morris County Prosecutor Re: PSD Michael Peoples/Long Hill Police
Dear Megan Phillips,
I haven't heard back from you since my response to the "clarification" that you requested, so in order to assist you better in promptly fulfilling my OPRA request and cutting through the bureaucracy here, I did some further investigation and uncovered that the Echoes-Sentinel Newspaper OPRA'd the same exact information from you that I am currently seeking now, in September of 2024.
According to an article published by the Editor, Solace Church on 7/15/2025, your Township, and presumably you as the records custodian, provided them the following:
"Letters and email correspondence, obtained by the Echoes-Sentinel through an OPRA (Open Public Records Act) in September 2024, revealed an approximate five-month back-and-forth between the county and township officials about what the public safety director can and can’t do."
If you need me to, I can OPRA the results of that OPRA by the Echoes-Sentinel separately, or you can just provide those results here, which should close out this present OPRA for you.
Thank you!
Yours sincerely,
Stephen Jones
-----Original Message-----
Mr. Jones,
Please be more specific when you say Long Hill Township Officials and provide a specific timeframe to proceed with your request.
Best regards,
Megan Phillips RMC, CMR
Municipal Clerk
Township of Long Hill
915 Valley Road
Gillette, NJ 07933
(908) 647-8000 ext 215
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Please use this UNIQUE email address for all replies to this request and no other:
[OPRA #78947 email]
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://opramachine.com/help/officers
View this OPRA request & responses online:
https://opramachine.com/request/correspo...
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will be delayed.
If you find this service useful as an OPRA custodian, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's website.
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