emails and internal memos sent or received by the Executive Director/Staff and/or the Board of Commissioners
Dear Housing Authority of the Town of Dover,
Please accept this electronic request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form or use a particular software platform to submit my request per NJSA 47:1A-6(f), which states that an email from a requestor including all of the information required on the adopted form shall suffice in place of a completed form as a valid government record request.
I HAVE NOT been convicted of any indictable offense under the laws of New Jersey, any other state, or the United States.
I WILL NOT use the requested government records for a commercial purpose.
I AM NOT seeking records in connection with a legal proceeding.
Records requested:
I am requesting all emails and internal memos sent or received by the Executive Director/Staff and/or the Board of Commissioners containing the keywords 'waiting list,' 'selection,' 'preference,' or 'priority placement' for the period of July 1, 2024, to February 26, 2026.
My preferred delivery method for response(s) to this request is by E-mail as attachments. Please confirm you have received this request. If you are not the custodian of records, please forward my request to that person and provide their email address to me for future reference.
Yours faithfully,
Giselle Santos
Giselle:
I am writing to respond to your Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) requests dated February 26, 2026 for program Waiting Lists and for lists of all applicants admitted in the past two years, subject to the redaction of “personally identifying information”.
Under the U.S. Housing Act, the Housing Authority is only permitted to obtain and use information regarding its program applicants / participants for purposes directly connected with the administration of its programs. See 42 U.S.C. 3544(c)(2). Additionally, the U.S. Privacy Act prohibits the disclosure of records maintained on an individual unless that individual provides written consent. 5 U.S.C. 522a(b). Unauthorized disclosure of program applicant / participant information may result in criminal or civil penalties. 42 U.S.C. 3544(c)(3); 5 U.S.C. 552a(i).
Additionally, OPRA states that “a public agency has a responsibility and an obligation to safeguard from public access a citizen's personal information with which it has been entrusted when disclosure thereof would violate the citizen's reasonable expectation of privacy…” N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1. The New Jersey courts have clearly indicated that this provision is substantive in nature and “imposes an obligation on public agencies to protect against disclosure of personal information which would run contrary to reasonable privacy interests.” Burnett v. County of Bergen, 198 N.J. 408, 422-423 (2009). Based on the above Federal laws, individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy in their status as housing program applicants / participants.
While you have not provided a definition of the term “personally identifying information”, your request for a list of all applicants admitted in the past two years indicates that you do not consider an individual’s name to be “personally identifying information”. Accordingly, the Housing Authority cannot provide the redacted documents you are seeking without violating Federal law.
Consequently, the Housing Authority must deny your requests.
Housing Authority Town of Dover
215 E. Blackwell Street
Dover, NJ 07801
973-361-9444 phone
973-361-6204 fax
[Housing Authority of the Town of Dover request email]
The information transmitted is intended only for the person(s) or entity to which it is addresses and may contain confidential and privileged material and should be treated as a confidential communication. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering this to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that your access is unauthorized, and any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this message including attachments is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please immediately advise the sender by reply e-mail that this message has been inadvertently transmitted to you and delete the e-mail from your system.
Dear Maria Tchinchinian,
Your denial does not address the records I requested and must be reconsidered. It is unclear whether the Housing Authority reviewed the actual request before issuing this denial, as the response addresses records that were never sought.
My request was for internal emails and memos sent or received by the Executive Director, staff, and/or Board of Commissioners containing the keywords 'waiting list,' 'selection,' 'preference,' or 'priority placement' — for the period of July 1, 2024 to February 26, 2026.
Yours sincerely,
Giselle Santos
Giselle,
We mistakenly replied to the wrong Opera request. Did you want me to send it again in the correct email chain? As for your request regarding the emails, I am just seeing this now and need additional time to evaluate your request.
Maria Tchinchinian
Executive Director
Housing Authority Town of Dover
215 E. Blackwell Street
Dover, NJ 07801
973-361-9444 phone
973-361-6204 fax
[Housing Authority of the Town of Dover request email]
The information transmitted is intended only for the person(s) or entity to which it is addresses and may contain confidential and privileged material and should be treated as a confidential communication. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering this to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that your access is unauthorized, and any review, dissemination, distribution or copying of this message including attachments is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please immediately advise the sender by reply e-mail that this message has been inadvertently transmitted to you and delete the e-mail from your system.
Dear Maria Tchinchinian,
Yes please send the reply to the correct email chain.
Yours sincerely,
Giselle Santos