Mr. Baily:

My firm is interim Board Attorney for the Monroe Township Board of
Education. School Business Administrator/Board Secretary, Michael Gorski,
the District’s Custodian of Records, has forwarded to us the following
OPRA request dated February 8, 2021 bearing a time stamp of 8:53:34 PM
EST, submitted via an internet portal:

Begin forwarded message:

From: William Bailey
<[1][OPRA #20141 email]>
Date: February 8, 2021 at 8:53:34 PM EST
To: Michael Gorski <[2][email address]>
Subject: [External Email]OPRA request - Email logs

CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the school district. Do
not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and
know the content is safe.

Monroe Township IT Department

Dear Monroe Township School District (Middlesex),

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 would like a copy of the email logs for mr. Gorski and all boe board
members from January 1, 2021 through feb 1, 2021

I would like a copy of all boe meeting minutes, closed and open from
January 1, 2020 through feb 7, 2022

Yours faithfully,

William baily

Mr. Gorski has requested that we respond to your request, which was not
received by him until February 9, 2021, on his behalf. OPRA requires that
agencies adopt a form for a person to request access to public records.
That form is attached to this email. OPRA’s guidelines clearly indicate
that persons seeking access to public records “should” utilize this form.
See Renna v. Cnty. of Union, 407 N.J. Super. 230 (App. Div. 2009). While
we note that the use of the agency’s form is not mandatory, case law that
has developed under OPRA clearly establishes that a request submitted
through other means must be accepted, provided it contains all the
information otherwise required by OPRA and clearly identifies itself as
being a request submitted pursuant to OPRA. Additionally, while OPRA
permits an agency to set up a system to accept requests through the
internet, nothing in OPRA requires the implementation of such a system.
All this is clearly stated in the Citizen’s Guide to OPRA, published on
the web page for the Government Records Council (GRC) and dated as of May
2020. For your convenience, I am copying below the specific excerpts from
the Guide which support this position:

Some public agencies may not have a dedicated fax line for their records
custodians and therefore

choose not to accept fax requests. Some public agencies may accept
requests for access to

government records over the Internet or by e-mail. See Paff v. City of
East Orange, 407 N.J. Super.

221 (App. Div. 2009) (holding that the custodian's refusal to accept OPRA
requests via fax is

reasonable but that a custodian may not exercise his/her authority under
OPRA in a manner that

would impose an unreasonable obstacle to the transmission of a request for
a government record.

Additionally, the court stated that OPRA's requirement that custodians
adopt a request form

authorizes custodians to direct how government records can be transmitted
as specified in the form,

which need not include every method of transmission mentioned in N.J.S.A.
47:1A-5(g)). See also

Dello Russo v. City of East Orange (Essex), GRC Complaint No. 2014-430
(Interim Order dated

September 29, 2015). OPRA does not require public agencies to provide new
services beyond what

they currently provide in order to accept records requests electronically.

Electronically Submitted Requests: Some public agencies have created
systems that will permit

a citizen to fill out an online request form and file it with the
custodian over the Internet. The

means of submitting a request form (mail, in-person, Internet) will not
affect which records will

or will not be available for access. The request form, whether paper or
electronic, must contain all

of the required information listed in N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(f).

N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(f) provides that the request should include the name,
address, and phone number of the requestor and a brief description of the
government record sought. We also advise that the Custodian does not
accept OPRA requests through non-District internet portals for a variety
of reasons including security concerns, the potential for the transmission
of viruses and malware.

If you wish to resubmit your request in an appropriate form, which we hope
will be on the attached District’s official form, the Custodian will
respond promptly to your request. You are encouraged to utilize the
District’s official form which you may submit through any usual email or,
of course, by hard copy to the Custodian at the address listed on the
attached form.

Thank you for your courtesies and cooperation. If you have any questions,
please contact us.

Sincerely,

Rich

Richard H. Bauch, Esq.
PORZIO, BROMBERG & NEWMAN, P.C.
100 Southgate Parkway, P.O. Box 1997 | Morristown, NJ 07962-1997

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