Dear Piotr Kow,

This comes in first response to your OPRA Request for:
" Records requested:

1. The current rules, procedures, bylaws, code of conduct, code of ethics, confidentiality policy, social media policy, and any other policy or ordinance governing members of the Wallington Mayor and Council.

2. Any policy, rule, ordinance, resolution, or written guidance regarding whether members of the Mayor and Council may publicly release, publish, distribute, or post on social media documents, reports, memoranda, correspondence, or other records received in their official capacity.

3. Any policy, rule, ordinance, resolution, or written guidance regarding confidential Council business, closed session materials, attorney client matters, personnel matters, investigative records, and records distributed to the governing body.

4. Any records showing whether the report dated December 12, 2018 from Loccke, Correia & Bukosky, addressed to the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Wallington, regarding "Inappropriate Interference with Police Operations," was authorized for public release, including any approval, written authorization, email, memo, legal opinion, or communication regarding its release or publication.

5. Any emails, letters, memoranda, text messages, or other written communications between the Mayor, Council members, Borough Administrator, Borough Clerk, and Borough Attorney from January 1, 2024 to present concerning the release, posting, publication, confidentiality, or public distribution of the report dated December 12, 2018 from Loccke, Correia & Bukosky regarding "Inappropriate Interference with Police Operations."

6. Any OPRA requests, responses, approvals, denial letters, or production logs relating to the report dated December 12, 2018 from Loccke, Correia & Bukosky regarding "Inappropriate Interference with Police Operations."

7. Any records showing when and how the report dated December 12, 2018 from Loccke, Correia & Bukosky regarding "Inappropriate Interference with Police Operations" was provided to the Mayor and Council, including cover letters, transmittal emails, agendas, meeting packets, closed session materials, or distribution lists.

8. Any records showing whether the report dated December 12, 2018 from Loccke, Correia & Bukosky regarding "Inappropriate Interference with Police Operations" was ever released to the public, posted on any Borough website, included in any public meeting packet, or otherwise made publicly available by the Borough.

For clarity, this request refers to the report dated December 12, 2018 from Loccke, Correia & Bukosky to the Mayor and Council of the Borough of Wallington with the subject "Inappropriate Interference with Police Operations."

This request is not intended to seek disciplinary records against any police officer or to initiate any complaint against any police officer. To the extent responsive records contain personal identifying information, officer personal information, confidential law enforcement information, or other exempt information, please redact those portions and provide all reasonably segregable non exempt portions."

Thank you for your patience in awaiting this reply and for kindly sending a follow-up email.

Upon conducting an internal review in response to your email, it was discovered that my office accidently missed your original email. Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in responding.

I am the Records Custodian for the Borough of Wallington and am in the process of distributing your request to the appropriate department(s) for a search of any responsive records. Due to the delay, we will provide a response as soon as possible, but no later than Tuesday, July 15, 2026.

If your request seeks information or asks questions and does not identify specific government records, same is not a valid OPRA request. When a request is "complex" because it fails to specifically identify the documents sought, then that request is not "encompassed" by OPRA. See New Jersey Builders Association v. New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing, 390 N.J.Super. 166, 180 (App. Div. 2007). A proper request under OPRA 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. See Bent v. Stafford Police Department, 381 N.J.Super. 30, 37 (App. Div. 2005). Custodians are not required to conduct research or create new records in response to an OPRA request.

Regards,

Casey Kimmel, RMC
Borough Clerk
Borough of Wallington
(973) 777-0318 ext. 201
[email address]

The content of this email is confidential and is intended for the sole use of the recipient specified in this message and may contain confidential  and/or privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender via email, phone or fax and destroy all copies of the original message.

show quoted sections

Dear Piotr Kow,

As mentioned in my original email, thank you for your patience in awaiting
this reply. This comes in response to my original email sent on July 6^th
regarding your OPRA Request, with responses in bold, for:

“Records requested:

1. The current rules, procedures, bylaws, code of conduct, code of ethics,
confidentiality policy, social media policy, and any other policy or
ordinance governing members of the Wallington Mayor and Council.- Please
find the link below to the Borough's E-Code in response to your request,
along with the attached Resolution No. 2026-003 adopting Robert's Rules of
Order. Please also be advised that members of the Mayor and Council are
bound by the New Jersey Local Government Ethics Law.

[1]https://ecode360.com/15118879#15118879

2. Any policy, rule, ordinance, resolution, or written guidance regarding
whether members of the Mayor and Council may publicly release, publish,
distribute, or post on social media documents, reports, memoranda,
correspondence, or other records received in their official capacity. –
Please see the response to #1.

3. Any policy, rule, ordinance, resolution, or written guidance regarding
confidential Council business, closed session materials, attorney client
matters, personnel matters, investigative records, and records distributed
to the governing body. -Please see the attached Resolution No. 2026-208,
which is the most recent resolution authorizing the Mayor and Council to
convene in Closed Session, as a sample. Such resolutions are routinely
adopted by the Governing Body pursuant to the Open Public Meetings Act and
are uploaded to the Borough's website with the meeting minutes. Please see
the links below to the Borough's website for agendas and meeting minutes:

Agendas & Minutes from 2025-2026:
[2]https://www.wallingtonnj.org/agendacenter

Agendas & Minutes prior to 2025:
[3]https://www.wallingtonnj.org/DocumentCen...

Additionally, please be advised that your request for "regarding
confidential Council business, closed session materials, attorney client
matters, personnel matters, investigative records, and records distributed
to the governing body" is overly broad and voluminous and does not
identify specific government records with reasonable clarity. The Open
Public Records Act deals with requests for readily identifiable government
records. Please clarify your request by identifying the specific record(s)
you are seeking. Additionally, to the extent your request seeks records
protected by the attorney-client privilege, such records are exempt from
disclosure pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1.

4. Any records showing whether the report dated December 12, 2018 from
Loccke, Correia & Bukosky, addressed to the Mayor and Council of the
Borough of Wallington, regarding “Inappropriate Interference with Police
Operations,” was authorized for public release, including any approval,
written authorization, email, memo, legal opinion, or communication
regarding its release or publication. - Your request for “Any records
showing whether the report….was authorized for public release” is too
broad and voluminous. This request seeks information or asks questions and
does not identify specific government records. The Open Public Records Act
deals with requests for readily identifiable public records. The Custodian
of Records is not supposed to perform research to determine which
documents exist, but rather to make available to a requestor specific
record(s) that have been identified by the requestor. Please clarify your
request by providing the specific document(s) you are seeking.

Additionally, P.L. 2024, c.16 sets forth criteria for a valid OPRA request
seeking communications, including e-mails, text messages, other forms of
correspondence, and social media communications. N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(g). The
criteria, which mirrors those originally devised in Elcavage v. West
Milford Twp. (Passaic), GRC Complaint No. 2009-07 (April 2010), are
comprised of:

• “[S]pecific job title or accounts” (including “specific individuals by .
. . job title and position”)

• “[A] specific subject matter”

• “[A] reasonable time period”

5. Any emails, letters, memoranda, text messages, or other written
communications between the Mayor, Council members, Borough Administrator,
Borough Clerk, and Borough Attorney from January 1, 2024 to present
concerning the release, posting, publication, confidentiality, or public
distribution of the report dated December 12, 2018 from Loccke, Correia &
Bukosky regarding “Inappropriate Interference with Police Operations.” –
P.L. 2024, c.16 sets forth criteria for a valid OPRA request seeking
communications, including e-mails, text messages, other forms of
correspondence, and social media communications. N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(g). The
criteria, which mirrors those originally devised in Elcavage v. West
Milford Twp. (Passaic), GRC Complaint No. 2009-07 (April 2010), are
comprised of:

• “[S]pecific job title or accounts” (including “specific individuals by .
. . job title and position”)

• “[A] specific subject matter”

• “[A] reasonable time period”

6. Any OPRA requests, responses, approvals, denial letters, or production
logs relating to the report dated December 12, 2018 from Loccke, Correia &
Bukosky regarding “Inappropriate Interference with Police Operations.” -  

The Open Public Records Act deals with requests for readily identifiable
public records. The Custodian of Records is not supposed to perform
research to determine which documents exist, but rather to make available
to a requestor specific record(s) that have been identified by the
requestor. Please clarify your request by providing a date range, OPRA
request number, requestor name, or other identifying information
sufficient to identify the records you are seeking.

7. Any records showing when and how the report dated December 12, 2018
from Loccke, Correia & Bukosky regarding “Inappropriate Interference with
Police Operations” was provided to the Mayor and Council, including cover
letters, transmittal emails, agendas, meeting packets, closed session
materials, or distribution lists. - Please see the response to #4 and #5
regarding your request for emails. Agendas can be found on the Borough's
website at the link provided in response to #3. Please also see the
response to #3 regarding your request for closed session materials. To the
extent your request seeks records showing when and how the report was
provided to the Mayor and Council, please clarify your request by
identifying the specific record(s) you are seeking.

8. Any records showing whether the report dated December 12, 2018 from
Loccke, Correia & Bukosky regarding “Inappropriate Interference with
Police Operations” was ever released to the public, posted on any Borough
website, included in any public meeting packet, or otherwise made publicly
available by the Borough. – Again, your request seeks information or asks
questions and does not identify specific government records. The Custodian
of Records is not supposed to perform research to determine which
documents exist, but rather to make available to a requestor specific
record(s) that have been identified by the requestor. Please clarify your
request by identifying the specific document(s) you are seeking and
providing a date range for the search to be conducted

For clarity, this request refers to the report dated December 12, 2018
from Loccke, Correia & Bukosky to the Mayor and Council of the Borough of
Wallington with the subject “Inappropriate Interference with Police
Operations.”

This request is not intended to seek disciplinary records against any
police officer or to initiate any complaint against any police officer. To
the extent responsive records contain personal identifying information,
officer personal information, confidential law enforcement information, or
other exempt information, please redact those portions and provide all
reasonably segregable non exempt portions.”

Please provide your clarification no later than seven (7) business days
from the date of this response, by Friday, July 24, 2026. If clarification
is not received by that date, the Borough will deem your request complete
and closed for record keeping purposes.

If your request seeks information or asks questions and does not identify
specific government records, same is not a valid OPRA request. When a
request is “complex” because it fails to specifically identify the
documents sought, then that request is not “encompassed” by OPRA. See New
Jersey Builders Association v. New Jersey Council on Affordable Housing,
390 N.J.Super. 166, 180 (App. Div. 2007).  A proper request under OPRA
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.  See Bent v. Stafford Police Department, 381
N.J.Super. 30, 37 (App. Div.  2005). Custodians are not required to
conduct research or create new records in response to an OPRA request. 

Regards,

Casey Kimmel, RMC

Borough Clerk

Borough of Wallington

(973) 777-0318 ext. 201

[4][email address]

The content of this email is confidential and is intended for the sole use
of the recipient specified in this message and may contain confidential
 and/or privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure
or distribution is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended
recipient, please contact the sender via email, phone or fax and destroy
all copies of the original message.

References

Visible links
1. https://ecode360.com/15118879#15118879
2. https://www.wallingtonnj.org/agendacenter
3. https://www.wallingtonnj.org/DocumentCen...
4. mailto:[email address]