June 26, 2024

 

Good afternoon,

 

The Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) received your OPRA request on
June 18, 2024. The seven-day business day deadline to respond to your
request is June 28, 2023.  This response is being provided to you on the
fifth business day, June 26, 2024.

 

Your request sought access to the following documents pursuant to OPRA and
under the common law: (1) All correspondence including email, mail, fax to
the accounting firm Holman, Frenia & Allison during the period 1/1/22 to
6/18/2024 and from Holmal, Frenia and Allison to the Comptrollers Office;
and (2) Copies of any complaints or investigations against Holman, Frenia
& Allison performing auditing services and chief financial officer
services for the any town in NJ for the period 1/1/22 to 6/18/2024.

 

OSC is an independent State agency that conducts audits and investigates
government agencies throughout New Jersey. N.J.S.A. 52:15B-8; N.J.S.A.
52:15C-5. OSC’s investigative authority is set forth in N.J.S.A. 52:15B-1
et seq. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 52:15B-7, OSC has “establish[ed] a full-time
program of investigation, to receive and investigate complaints concerning
alleged fraud, waste, abuse or mismanagement of State funds, designed to
provide increased accountability, integrity and oversight of every public
entity recipient of State funds.” N.J.S.A. 52:15B-7. To accomplish these
important governmental oversight goals, OSC is afforded “all powers
necessary to carry out its duties and functions and to fulfill” its
statutory responsibilities, including the power to conduct investigations
and issue subpoenas and the authority to call on any State entity for any
needed information, resources, assistance and cooperation. N.J.S.A.
52:15B-6,-8.

 

Against this backdrop, please be advised that OSC can neither confirm nor
deny the existence of records in response to your OPRA request. See N.
Jersey Media Group, Inc. v. Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, 447 N.J.
Super. 182 (App. Div. 2016). Furthermore, to the extent any such records
or investigations exist, your request must nevertheless be denied because
such records would be considered advisory, consultative, or deliberative
and exempt from disclosure under OPRA.

 

Please be further advised that your requests must be denied as improper
and overbroad. OPRA does not allow a blanket request for every document a
public agency has on file or a wholesale request for general information.
Gannett N.J. Partners, LP v. Cty. of Middlesex, 379 N.J. Super. 205, 212
(App. Div. 2005); MAG Entm’t, LLC v. Div. of Alcoholic Beverage Control,
375 N.J. Super. 534, 549 (App. Div. 2005); Bent v. Twp. of Stafford Police
Dep’t, 381 N.J. Super. 30, 36-37 (App. Div. 2005); Spectraserv, Inc. v.
Middlesex Cty. Utils. Auth., 416 N.J. Super. 565, 578 (App. Div. 2010);
N.J. Builders Ass’n v. N.J. Council on Affordable Hous., 390 N.J. Super.
166, 178-79 (App. Div. 2007). It also does not contemplate “open-ended
searches of an agency's files” nor is it “intended as a research tool
litigants may use to force government officials to identify and siphon
useful information.” MAG Entertainment, LLC v. Div. of Alcohol Beverage
Control, 375 N.J. Super. 534, 546-49 (App. Div. 2005). “The requestor must
identify the records sought with specificity. The request may not be
a broad, generic description of documents that requires the custodian to
search the agency's files and ‘analyze, compile, and collate’ the
requested information.” Bart v. Passaic Cty. Public Housing Agency, 406
N.J. Super. 445, 451 (App. Div. 2009) (citations omitted); Bent v. Twp. of
Stafford Police Dep't, 381 N.J. Super. 30 (App. Div. 2005)(holding that
OPRA allows requests for specific records, not requests for general
information, data, or statistics). Because these requests fail to identify
specific records and would also require the Custodian to conduct research
and make determinations as to whether documents, to the extent any exist,
concern a certain subject matter (i.e., an entity allegedly performing
auditing services and chief financial officer services for the same town),
these requests must be denied.

 

Your first request is also denied for the following additional reason. 
Requests for correspondence under OPRA must identify the individuals or
accounts to be searched and be confined to a discrete and limited subject
matter. Burke v. Brandes, 429 N.J. Super. 169, 176-78, (App. Div. 2012);
see also Elcavage v. West Milford Twp (Passaic), GRC Complaint No. 2009-08
(April 8, 2010)(stating that a proper request for email correspondence
must contain “(1) the content and/or subject of the e-mail, (2) the
specific date or range of dates during which the e-mail was transmitted or
the emails were transmitted, and (3) a valid e-mail request must identify
the sender and/or the recipient thereof”). Because your request fails to
identify any subject matter, it must be denied.

 

      You have also requested the above documents under the common law
right of access. That request is denied because OSC’s interests in
protecting confidential documents from disclosure, to the extent any such
documents exist, outweighs your interest in accessing such records.

 

In light of the above, OSC considers its response to this request to be
completed. OSC reserves the right to supplement its bases for denial with
any additional basis for exemption to public access as may hereinafter
also be determined to apply.

 

 

Thank you,

 

Robert Shane

Custodian of Records 

 

 

 

 

 

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Sent 6//18/2024 at 11:19 AM

Dear New Jersey State Comptroller's Office,

 

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:

 

I saw this request on another post on OPRAMACHINE dated February 25, 2023,
and it received no reply.   I am interested in a reply given the firm
Holman, Frenia & Allison of Lakewood NJ is also the auditor for the Wall
BOE. 

 

Please provide All correspondence including email, mail, fax to the
accounting firm Holman, Frenia & Allison during the period 1/1/22 to
6/18/2024 and from Holmal, Frenia and Allison to the Comptrollers Office.

 

Copies of any complaints or investigations against Holman, Frenia &
Allison performing auditing services and chief financial officer services
for the any town in NJ for the period 1/1/22 to 6/18/2024.

 

Regards,

 

Betsy Cross

 

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