Idlewild Pool communications
Dear Morris Plains Borough,
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:
Copies of any and all electronic communications between Borough employees, including elected officials, regarding the purchase of Idlewild Pool.
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,
Robert Baccala
PLEASE SEE THE ATTACHED RESPONSE OF THE BOROUGH CLERK OF THE BOROUGH OF MORRIS PLAINS, DATED September 30, 2024, WHICH IS ANNEXED HERETO AND INCORPORATED HEREIN.
I received the above-referenced request (the “Request”) under the New Jersey Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq. (“OPRA”) on September 20, 2024. As such, the seven (7) business day deadline to respond to your request is October 1, 2014. This response is being provided to you on the 6th business day after the custodian’s receipt of said request.
Your OPRA request sought access to the following:
Copies of any and all electronic communications between Borough employees, including elected officials, regarding the purchase of Idlewild Pool.
Mr. Baccala
At this time I am unable to produce any responsive documents to your request for the following reasons:
1. Under OPRA, your request is overbroad. It is not a demand for readily-identifiable documents, but a demand that requires me to engage in research. It will require me to attempt to locate communications, if any, from dozens of individuals over an unidentified period of time. As such, your request requires me to conduct research, which OPRA does not require. Your request is therefore overbroad.
2. Under OPRA, your demand would impose a substantial burden on the Borough’s limited resources under N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(g). Assuming I am able to fully comply with your overbroad request, I will need to review each and every communication to determine which communications are exempt from disclosure for reasons, including but not limited to, attorney-client privilege communications, intra- or -inter-agency advisory, consultative or deliberative material, as personnel records, as documents containing personal identifiers, and documents containing private information entrusted to the Borough by private citizens. This imposes a substantial burden on the Borough and the Borough’s limited resources.
3. Your request is also overbroad under the common law right of access. Unless you can demonstrate your special interest in each individual document, and how in each individual case your special interest outweighs the Borough’s interest in non-disclosure, the common law of access is not available to you.
4. The common law right of access applies only to written memorials made by a public officer who was authorized by law to make them. The common law right of access does not apply to documents received by, but not made by, public officers.
Based on the foregoing, your request received on September 20, 2024, seeking "Copies of any and all electronic communications between Borough employees, including elected officials, regarding the purchase of Idlewild Pool" must be narrowed to request specific documents on specific subjects within a specified period of time in accordance with the foregoing.
Rosanne Denman, RMC, CMR
Borough Clerk
973-538-2224
Morris Plains Borough
531 Speedwell Ave