Dear Town of Boonton,

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:

Five (5) Emails with Attachments dated on or about 9/19/2022 regarding Genova Legal Services mentioned by Council Member J. Bock at 10/17/22 Town Council Meeting at 8:49 PM

Yours faithfully,

Stephen Jones

Dear Cindy Oravits,

Hello, you have not provided the documents I have requested in my OPRA request.

If I were to make assumptions, which I really should not, what you provided MAY be the "attachments" part of my request.

HOWEVER I am missing the "Five (5) Emails" themselves, please provide these forthwith. See below for a reminder of my original request to clarify.

"Five (5) Emails with Attachments dated on or about 9/19/2022 regarding Genova Legal Services mentioned by Council Member J. Bock at 10/17/22 Town Council Meeting at 8:49 PM"

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Jones

Dear Cindy Oravits,

Checking in on my OPRA request from 10/18 that still has not been completely filled.... I am still looking for copies of the actual emails as I have requested. Will these be included in the response to my other latest OPRA request for the payroll sheets and overtime justifications that you indicated would be filled today?

Thanks, Steve

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Jones

Dear Cindy Oravits,

I am hoping this is just some simple confusion on your part, and not a deliberate attempt to withhold public records by the Town of Boonton. Please forward to Counsel for guidance as needed.

If I do not receive a prompt reply with the records I am seeking I will be questioning this matter at the next Town Meeting during the open public comment.

The next step after that will be for me to file a denial of access complaint for the records I am seeking in regards to the "five (5) emails" request I originally placed to you on 10/18/22.

You need to provide me the ACTUAL emails from the inbox of the Mayor. The Mayor will need to log into his email click on each actual email itself and click "print" - five (5) times. I do not mean to sound condescending however I have plainly requested these documents a number of times now and it is getting ridiculous.

So in short, I asked for 1. "emails" and 2. "attachments".....you have only provided # 2.

I am still waiting for # 1 - the "emails"... Five (5) of them....

Thanks in advance for your anticipated cooperation.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Jones

Dear Cindy Oravits,

It seems the Town's response in regards to my "5 emails" OPRA request is both incomplete and deficient.

I have only been provided "four (4)" emails, not "five (5)" as identified by Councilman Bock in the open public meeting on 10/17/2022, and furthermore, there have been redactions made to the four (4) emails provided with absolutely no notation made as to reasoning for said redactions as required.

Here is a link and copy of the instructions for government agencies on redactions, while I am sure you are aware of these requirements, possibly town counsel is not, or has forgotten:

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

Explaining Why A Redaction is Made
When redactions are made to a record, the custodian can use either the request form to explain why those elements of a record are redacted, or use a separate document, depending on the circumstances, but also referring to the OPRA exception being claimed. This principle also applies if pages of information are redacted. Sometimes it is clear from inspection (a entry called "Social Security Number" has a black out over where the number would appear). The bottom line is that the requester has a right to know the reason for the redaction, and the custodian has the responsibility to provide a reasonable explanation.

Denying Access to Records
N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5g states that if a custodian is unable to comply with a request for access, the custodian shall "indicate the specific basis therefore" on the request form and promptly return it to the requester. When a record is being withheld in its entirety, custodians must reply to the OPRA request and explain the reason why the custodian cannot comply with the request.

****So in summary, please provide the missing "5th email" and either provide unredacted copies of all emails, or provided reasoning for the redactions. Very simple.****

Please forward to counsel for review and adjudication ASAP, I really do not want to have to file complaints as outlined in the end of your previous response letter. There is enough litigation going around these days.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Jones