Please accept this as my request for government records under both OPRA and the common law right of access. Thank you very much for your commitment to transparent government.

RECORDS REQUESTED:

1. The minutes, both public and nonpublic (i.e. closed or executive), for each meeting of the Fanwood Borough Ethics Board (established by Borough Code § 29-4) held during the years 2020, 2021 and 2022.

2. All e-mails sent between April 15, 2022 and December 23, 2022 from address "LFB_FDS(at)dca.nj.gov" to address "kholmes(at)fanwoodnj.org" (please substitute "@" for "(at" because OPRAMachine suppresses e-mail addresses in the body of a request) that contain the words "ethics" "FDS" "Glaser" "Lumpkin" or "Disclosure." To help you understand what I'm looking for, I am informed that the Local Finance Board (LFB) within the Department of Community Affairs likely sent Fanwood a) "reminder e-mails," probably in May of 2022, that asked the Fanwood Clerk to remind all its Local Government Officers (LGOs) to file their Financial Disclosure Statements, b) Notices of Violation (NOV), probably sent in June of 2022, that levied fine against those who failed to file and c) a "2022 FDS Enforcement" letter, probably in October or November 2022, that identified all those Fanwood LGOs who had not yet paid the $100 fine or filed an appeal. These are the three classes of records that I'm looking for.

3. Any of the records described in Nos. 2a, 2b and 2c above, even if they were transmitted to Fanwood from or to a different e-mail address or by a method other than e-mail.

4. N.J.S.A. 47:1A-10 provides that the public is entitled to know the "name, title, position, most recent annual salary, length of service, date of separation and the reason therefor" of government employees and officials. The following eight (8) LGOs are listed by name on Fanwood's 2022 LGO Roster as being active but none of them have a title or position assigned to them: Howard Drews, Erik Frins, Michelle Gardella, Francine Glaser, Margaret Hayes, Himanee Hendra, Eleanor McGovern and Stan Stachetka. For each of these eight (8) individuals, please provide his or her name, title, position and date of separation.

5. Ordinance 22-16-R, which amended the Borough's ethics code, in the form in which it was adopted on second reading.

Dear Ms. Holmes:

Pursuant to our telephone conversation today, we agreed that this OPRA request did not reach you when it was originally send. Would you please confirm receipt? Thank you.
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Please accept this as my request for government records under both OPRA and the common law right of access. Thank you very much for your commitment to transparent government.

RECORDS REQUESTED:

1. The minutes, both public and nonpublic (i.e. closed or executive), for each meeting of the Fanwood Borough Ethics Board (established by Borough Code § 29-4) held during the years 2020, 2021 and 2022.

2. All e-mails sent between April 15, 2022 and December 23, 2022 from address "LFB_FDS(at)dca.nj.gov" to address "kholmes(at)fanwoodnj.org" (please substitute "@" for "(at" because OPRAMachine suppresses e-mail addresses in the body of a request) that contain the words "ethics" "FDS" "Glaser" "Lumpkin" or "Disclosure." To help you understand what I'm looking for, I am informed that the Local Finance Board (LFB) within the Department of Community Affairs likely sent Fanwood a) "reminder e-mails," probably in May of 2022, that asked the Fanwood Clerk to remind all its Local Government Officers (LGOs) to file their Financial Disclosure Statements, b) Notices of Violation (NOV), probably sent in June of 2022, that levied fine against those who failed to file and c) a "2022 FDS Enforcement" letter, probably in October or November 2022, that identified all those Fanwood LGOs who had not yet paid the $100 fine or filed an appeal. These are the three classes of records that I'm looking for.

3. Any of the records described in Nos. 2a, 2b and 2c above, even if they were transmitted to Fanwood from or to a different e-mail address or by a method other than e-mail.

4. N.J.S.A. 47:1A-10 provides that the public is entitled to know the "name, title, position, most recent annual salary, length of service, date of separation and the reason therefor" of government employees and officials. The following eight (8) LGOs are listed by name on Fanwood's 2022 LGO Roster as being active but none of them have a title or position assigned to them: Howard Drews, Erik Frins, Michelle Gardella, Francine Glaser, Margaret Hayes, Himanee Hendra, Eleanor McGovern and Stan Stachetka. For each of these eight (8) individuals, please provide his or her name, title, position and date of separation.

5. Ordinance 22-16-R, which amended the Borough's ethics code, in the form in which it was adopted on second reading.

RE: Incomplete response to my OPRA request

Dear Ms. Holmes:

¶ 4 of my OPRA request sought the "name, title, position, most recent annual salary, length of service, date of separation and the reason therefor" for each of the following seven LGOs: Howard Drews, Erik Frins, Michelle Gardella, Margaret Hayes, Himanee Hendra, Eleanor McGovern and Stan Stachetka (note that I erroneously included Council member Francine Glaser in that paragraph). As you are aware, I am entitled to this information in accordance with N.J.S.A. 47:1A-10.

In your OPRA response, you provided me with a 68-page PDF file labeled "FDS emails OPRA.pdf." I looked through the 68 pages carefully and nothing within that file mentions any of the seven LGOs for whom I requested information in ¶ 4 of my OPRA request. In sum, it appears that you have addressed ¶¶ 1, 2, 3 and 5 of my request in your response, but skipped over ¶ 4.

Would you please respond to ¶ 4?

Thank you.

John Paff

Ms. Holmes:

Again, I'm sending you this follow-up. I need to receive a response or I have to consider my options.

RE: Incomplete response to my OPRA request

Dear Ms. Holmes:

¶ 4 of my OPRA request sought the "name, title, position, most recent annual salary, length of service, date of separation and the reason therefor" for each of the following seven LGOs: Howard Drews, Erik Frins, Michelle Gardella, Margaret Hayes, Himanee Hendra, Eleanor McGovern and Stan Stachetka (note that I erroneously included Council member Francine Glaser in that paragraph). As you are aware, I am entitled to this information in accordance with N.J.S.A. 47:1A-10.

In your OPRA response, you provided me with a 68-page PDF file labeled "FDS emails OPRA.pdf." I looked through the 68 pages carefully and nothing within that file mentions any of the seven LGOs for whom I requested information in ¶ 4 of my OPRA request. In sum, it appears that you have addressed ¶¶ 1, 2, 3 and 5 of my request in your response, but skipped over ¶ 4.

Would you please respond to ¶ 4?

Thank you.

John Paff

Ms. Holmes:

Would you please "provide an anticipated deadline date upon which the records [or a proper denial] will be provided"? According to page 18 of the GRC's Handbook for Records Custodians--Seventh Edition (link below), OPRA requestors are entitled to that. My experience with attorneys is that they prioritize their tasks in the order of the deadlines related to those tasks, which is understandable. My concern is that unless the Borough attorney is aware of a specific deadline, my request will continually fall to the bottom of his or her task list. Thank you for your understanding.

https://www.nj.gov/grc/custodians/handbo...