Forced Overtime to pay for annual Mayors Ball Tickets
Dear North Bergen Township,
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 the overtime records for every Officer at the NBPD for the months of September and October for the years 2020,2021,2022,2023 and 2024.
Specifically all Admin. Personnel overtime in order to show the spike in overtime for those two Months leading into the Mayors Ball at the NBPD where Officers are pressured to work overtime in order to hand over their earnings for a 1k Mayors Ball ticket that that Officers are forced to buy.
Officers receive a mandatory 1k Mayors Balls ticket in the mail which is a strategy that was started by Chief Farley instead of selling them right out of the Chiefs Office like in the past.
I request a record of all stationary and stamps bought by the Township in order to mail these forced tickets to Officers homes.
Will Chief Farley be giving out forced overtime this year in order for Officers to buy overly expensive forced Mayors Ball tickets?
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,
FTP
Dear FTP:
The Township of North Bergen (the “Township”) received your request dated 09/06/2025 under the New Jersey Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”), N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq.
Records requested:
“I am requesting all the overtime records for every Officer at the NBPD for the months of September and October for the years 2020,2021,2022,2023 and 2024.
Specifically all Admin. Personnel overtime in order to show the spike in overtime for those two Months leading into the Mayors Ball at the NBPD where Officers are pressured to work overtime in order to hand over their earnings for a 1k Mayors Ball ticket that that Officers are forced to buy.
Officers receive a mandatory 1k Mayors Balls ticket in the mail which is a strategy that was started by Chief Farley instead of selling them right out of the Chiefs Office like in the past.
I request a record of all stationary and stamps bought by the Township in order to mail these forced tickets to Officers homes. (sic)
The Township responds:
Request 1: “I am requesting all the overtime records for every Officer at the NBPD for the months of September and October for the years 2020,2021,2022,2023 and 2024.”
Response: Attached please find payroll records responsive.
Request 2: “Specifically all Admin. Personnel overtime in order to show the spike in overtime for those two Months leading into the Mayors Ball at the NBPD where Officers are pressured to work overtime in order to hand over their earnings for a 1k Mayors Ball ticket that that Officers are forced to buy.”
Response: In regards to, “…all Admin. Personnel overtime…” see responsive records already provided for Request #1. The Township holds no records responsive to, “…in order to show the spike in overtime for those two Months leading into the Mayors Ball at the NBPD where Officers are pressured to work overtime in order to hand over their earnings for a 1k Mayors Ball ticket that that Officers are forced to buy.”
Request #3: “Officers receive a mandatory 1k Mayors Balls ticket in the mail which is a strategy that was started by Chief Farley instead of selling them right out of the Chiefs Office like in the past.”
Response: Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A5(g), requests for information, ambiguous statements, or requests that ask questions are NOT valid OPRA requests, and no response is required. No identifiable government record has been specified.
Request #4: “I request a record of all stationary and stamps bought by the Township in order to mail these forced tickets to Officers homes.” (sic)
Response: The Township holds no records responsive.
Request #5: Will Chief Farley be giving out forced overtime this year in order for Officers to buy overly expensive forced Mayors Ball tickets?
Response: Pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A5(g) requests for information or requests that ask questions are NOT valid OPRA requests. OPRA applies to requests for records, not requests for isolated facts. A valid OPRA request must seek specific, identifiable records. MAG Entm’t, LLC v. Div. of Alcohol Beverage Control, 375 N.J. Super. 534 (App. Div. 2005); Bent v. Stafford Police Dept., 381 N.J. Super. 30 (App. Div. 2005).
You requested the same records under the common law. Unlike with OPRA, the burden to show that access to common law public records should be permitted lies with the requestor. “The common-law right to access public records depends on three requirements: (1) the records must be common-law public documents; (2) the person seeking access must ‘establish an interest in the subject matter of the material,’; and (3) the citizen's right to access ‘must be balanced against the State's interest in preventing disclosure.” Keddie v. Rutgers, 148 N.J. 36, 50, 689 A.2d 702, 709 (1997) (internal citations omitted). You have neither established that the records you seek are common-law public documents, identified an interest in the subject matter of such records, nor set forth how your need for disclosure outweighs the State’s clearly expressed, strong public policy interest in preventing such disclosure. Accordingly, your request is denied under common law.
As with any OPRA request, you have the right to challenge the decision by the Township. At your option, you may either institute a proceeding in the Superior Court of New Jersey or file a complaint with the Government Records Council (“GRC”) by completing the Denial of Access Complaint Form. You may contact the GRC by toll-free telephone at 866-850-0511, by mail at PO Box 819, Trenton, NJ 08625, or at its web site at www.state.nj.us/grc. The Council can also answer other questions about the law. All questions regarding complaints filed in Superior Court should be directed to the Court Clerk in your County.
Thank you.
Erin Barillas, RMC
Township Clerk
Township of North Bergen
4233 Kennedy Blvd
North Bergen, NJ 07047
e: [North Bergen Township request email]
o: 201-392-2024
f: 201-330-7694
www.northbergen.org