Directory of Local Authorities, Boards, and Commissions
Charlie Kratovil made this OPRA request to New Brunswick City as part of a batch sent to 25 authorities This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.
Dear New Brunswick City,
Under OPRA and the common law right of access, please provide a copy of your current directory of local authorities, boards, and commissions (NJSA 40A:9-9.2).
Yours faithfully,
Charlie Kratovil
Mr. Kratovil,
Please see the attached current directory of local authorities, boards and
commissions, as requested on March 15^th and received the same through
Opra assigned tracking #23.03_177.
Regards,
Leslie R. Zeledón, City Clerk
City of New Brunswick
78 Bayard Street, Rm. 201
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732.745.5041 (phone)
732.745.5009 (fax)
Dear Madame Clerk,
Most of the pages have blank columns in the document you sent in response to OPRA tracking #23.03_177. There also appears to be an error with page 16 of the document.
I will require a complete record without omissions or redactions. Please provide the requested record pursuant to NJSA 40A:9-9.2.
Yours sincerely,
Charlie Kratovil
Mr. Kratovil,
I am in receipt of your email of September 26, 2023, in which you are following up on an Open Public Records Request submitted on March 15, 2023, and for which you received a response on March 24, 2023. In response to your latest inquiry, kindly be advised the blank columns you refer to would normally be populated with personal identifying information such as the home address of the respective Board, Commission, Authority member. Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 40A:9-9.2(3), such information is deemed confidential for purposes of N.J.S.A 47:1A-1 et. Seq. and N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5 et.seq. The documents provided to you on March 24, 2023, are the directories maintained by the City of New Brunswick, which you requested, minus the redactions allowed by law. As far as page 16, page 16 was a broken page that was an extension of page 15 of the document. The most current Directory of Boards is attached.
Regards,
Leslie R. Zeledón, City Clerk
City of New Brunswick
78 Bayard Street, Rm. 201
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732.745.5041 (phone)
732.745.5009 (fax)
Dear Leslie Zeledon,
Thank you for the current directory. This is one is better but still has some problems:
1) Regarding the Board of Education, the former student representative is named instead of the current one.
2) Regarding the Housing Authority, Mr. Toto's title is Interim Executive Director, not Executive Director.
3) Regarding the Municipal Court, Mr. Vietch's name is spelled wrong ("W. Ricahrd Veitch")
4) Regarding the Parking Authority, the list does not reflect the appointment of John Zimmerman, nor does it reflect the new individuals in the roles of Interim Executive Director or General Counsel.
5) Regarding the Planning Board and Zoning Board of Adjustment, the former Municipal Engineer's name is listed instead the current one, and Mr. Jeremy Solomon's name is misspelled in two different ways.
I am pointing these things out as a courtesy to you and your office, and I hope that you may one day return the favor if you ever see anything incorrect published under my name and/or in New Brunswick Today.
Regarding the confidentiality of home addresses, the correct citation would be 40A:9-9.2(b)(3) (you had omitted the "(b)") - however, that section deals exclusively with the one-page forms expressing interest in public service. The directory itself, under terms set forth in 40A:9-9.2(a) is not subject to the confidentiality.
It is also problematic that you did not disclose that you had redacted the document provided on March 24, 2023. Please do not ever let that happen again. I need to know if records I am provided pursuant to any request have been altered in any way. If you make redactions, you need to cite the reason(s) for them. In this case I had to ask why the document was strangely laid out in order to find out that you had covertly made adjustments before providing the record, and never disclosed this until questioned months later.
I respectfully request that you revisit how this request has been handled and provide a copy of the full record pursuant to section (a) of the statute (40A:9-9.2), the OPRA, and the common law right of access.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Charlie Kratovil
Dear Ms. Zeledon,
Following up on my October 6 message. Can you please provide a copy of the most current directory, without omissions or redactions?
Yours sincerely,
Charlie Kratovil
Dear Mr. Kratovil:
I am in receipt of your email of October 6, 2023, in which you followed up on the response you received in regards to OPRA 23.03_177. Thank you for your comments numbered 1 thru 5. Corrections will be made once I receive verification from the respective authority, boards and or commissions.
In regards to your comments regarding N.J.S.A. 40A:9-9.2(B)(3)- I apologize if the missing “b” caused you great confusion. However, it now appears that we are in agreement that N.J.S.A. 40A:9-9.2(B)(3) provides that address, phone number and email address shall be deemed confidential for the purposes of the OPRA Statute.
Unfortunately, it appears that you misinterpret N.J.S.A. 40A:9-9.2(a)(2), which specifically states "The directory shall include at least the following information for every authority, board and commission: (a) the name of the authority, board, or commission; (b) the number of members or positions; (c) a list of currently appointed members, along with their terms of office; (d) vacancies; (e) general frequency of meetings; and (f) the appointing authority and the enabling statute, ordinance, or resolution, if any.” After reviewing the statute once again, nowhere does the statute state that the directory must contain the address, phone number and email address of the board members. Clearly the statute does not require the inclusion of what has been determined by the Legislature to be confidential information. Therefore, if an address, phone number and an email address is not required, and the directory is maintained without that confidential information, whether the directory is subject to confidentiality concerns is not an issue.
Furthermore, for your information, the Clerk’s Office maintains the specific documents provided to you in exactly the format you received them, which are the directories maintained for public release as they do not contain the board members’ confidential information. The format of the document used for the directory is used for other purposes and contains blank columns that may or may not be used depending on the circumstances. (i.e., picture a template based on Excel). Nothing was redacted so there was no reason to disclose redactions. The documents you received were not altered in any way, there were no covert adjustments, and no other version of the document will be sent to you. If I misspoke and confused you with the statement of “minus the redactions allowed by law”, my clarification is, minus the confidential information you are looking for, which is not required by law.
Feel free to send a request at a later time to receive an updated version of the directory.
Regards,
Leslie R. Zeledón, City Clerk
City of New Brunswick
78 Bayard Street, Rm. 201
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
732.745.5041 (phone)
732.745.5009 (fax)