DWI Enforcement Funds
Dear Manchester Township,
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:
Please provide any and all records pertaining to DWI grant funds from January 2022 to current . Please provide the amount of funds allocated for each calendar year, and how these funds were used including purchases made with these funds.
Yours faithfully,
Taxpayers of Manchester
Good Afternoon Taxpayers of Manchester,
The Township of Manchester is in receipt of your request under OPRA for the following:
"Please provide any and all records pertaining to DWI grant funds from January 2022 to current . Please provide the amount of funds allocated for each calendar year, and how these funds were used including purchases made with these funds."
Your request is not valid under OPRA. It is not a request for specific public documents, but a request for information. Please be advised that portions of your request are overly broad and require clarification. OPRA is not intended as a research tool to force government officials to identify and siphon useful information. Rather, OPRA operates to make identifiable government records readily accessible for inspection, copying or examination. OPRA does not countenance open-ended searches of an agency's files. MAG Entertainment, LLC v. Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 375 N.J. Super. 534, 549 (App. Div. 2005).
A requestor must specifically describe the document sought. Bent v. Stafford Police Department, 381 N.J. Super. 30, 37 (App. Div. 2005). Currently, your request fails to identify with reasonable clarity the specific government records sought. At this time, we request clarification of your OPRA request. Please respond in writing and identify the specific government records sought. Failure to provide written clarification will result in the closure of this OPRA request.
Turning then to the common law right of access, your request did not provide a reason for the Clerk's Office to consider in balancing the right of access against the need for privacy. Therefore, in such a situation, the balancing test weighs strongly in favor of non-disclosure for requests for application materials of the requested documents.
Teri Giercyk RMC, CMC, CMR
Municipal Clerk, Registrar
Manchester Township
Clerk's Office
732-657-8121 ext. 3203
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