Good Morning Shelly Kennedy,

The Cumberland County Board of Elections is requesting an extension of one week to obtain all responsive documents to your OPRA request.

Thank you,

Lizbeth Hernandez, Administrator
Cumberland County Board of Elections
(856) 451-2654
(856) 453-5801
[Cumberland County Board of Elections request email]

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Good afternoon, Shelly,

I am in receipt of your request to the Cumberland County Board of
Elections.  After reviewing your request, I realized that, as written, you
are asking for information. The NJ Open Public Records Act, under N.J.S.A.
47:1A-1.1, however, defines a government record as: “any paper, written or
printed book, document, drawing, map, plan, photograph, microfilm, data
processed or image processed document, information stored or maintained
electronically or by sound-recording or in a similar device, or any copy
thereof, that has been made, maintained or kept on file in the course of
his or its official business.”  However, the County Board of Elections
aspires to be transparent with requesters and, thus, not under OPRA but
rather as a courtesy, we endeavor to hopefully provide you with the
answers you seek.

The responses to you request are in numerical order and are as follows:

1. Total amount of funding received from CTCL (aka Center for Tech and
Civic Life)

        -- both in this immediately past election cycle, and

        -- in any previous election cycles going back to October 2019

RESPONSE:  The Cumberland County Board of Elections received $484,653.75
in grant funding from CTCL in September 2020 only.

2. Any grants awarded from or submitted to Center for Tech and Civic Life
(aka CTCL)

RESPONSE: The COVID-19 Response Grant was awarded to the Cumberland County
Board of Elections from CTCL and was the only grant awarded to the
Cumberland County Board of Elections from CTCL.

3. The dollar amount of such grants in #2 above. 

RESPONSE: Please see the response for #1.

4. How was the money in #3 above spent? Provide specific categories and
spending amounts in every election cycle which used funding from CTCL.

RESPONSE: Please see CTCL COVID-19 Response Grant Report 6-28-21 in the
pdf file attached.

5. Minutes of the Board of Elections meetings during which Center for Tech
and Civic Life (CTCL) and its funding was discussed and/or approved

RESPONSE: Please see Cumberland County Board of Elections Minutes in the
 pdf file attached.

6. Provide a copy of any CTCL grant applications

RESPONSE: Please see CTCL COVID-19 Response Grant Application in the pdf
file which is attached.

7.  Provide a digital copy (PDF or image) of emails where "CTCL" or
"Center for Tech and Civic Life"  is mentioned

RESPONSE: We are in receipt of 1,164 emails which are potentially
responsive (the email search software generally captures emails which may
be wholly unrelated to the OPRA request) to your request for messages
including the terms "CTCL" or "Center for Tech and Civic Life."  This
indicates that your request may need additional terms or a specific date
range to narrow down the results.  Otherwise our staff would have to
perform research to attempt to identify responsive records.  OPRA,
however, only requires custodians to respond to requesters with specific,
identifiable records. Can you kindly clarify your request with more
specificity so that we can identify what documents are responsive?

If you are not able to provide more specific or detailed information, we
will have impose a special service charge and try to come to an agreement
with you on reasonable time to respond to your request, per  OPRA (under
47:1A-5 “Whenever the nature, format, manner of collation, or volume of a
government record embodied in the form of printed matter to be inspected,
examined, or copied pursuant to this section is such that … [disclosure]
involves an extraordinary expenditure of time and effort to accommodate
the request, the public agency may charge, in addition to the actual cost
of duplicating the record, a special service charge that shall be
reasonable and shall be based upon the actual direct cost of providing the
copy or copies). 

Please let us know how you would like to proceed – with respect to item
Number 7 and we’ll be happy to work with you.  Please be further advised
that the Board of Elections Administrator, Lizbeth Hernandez, who is
copied on this message and is the Custodian of the records you are
requesting, will be on vacation starting July 1 and returning July 12.  We
look forward to your response.

Best regards,

Melissa

Melissa D. Strickland, Esq.

Assistant County Counsel

County of Cumberland

164 W. Broad Street

Bridgeton, NJ 08302

Ph: (856) 453-2165

Fax: (856) 453-2168

[email address]

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Hello,

I am out of the office and will not return until July 12.

OPRA

For OPRA requests involving the County Health Department, (such as
environmental records) please submit the request the links found in the
right hand column of the Health Department webpage:
[1]http://www.co.cumberland.nj.us/content/2...

For all other requests, please use the following URL to submit it to the
relevant department directly via email or FAX:

[2]http://www.co.cumberland.nj.us/OPRArequest

If the relevant department is not listed on that page, please forward the
request to me via email and I will distribute it when I am able to access
my email.

ALL OTHER MATTERS:

I will have limited access to my email and will handle all but immediate
matters upon my return. For emergency matters, please dial 856-453-2165.

Warm regards,
Melissa

References

Visible links
1. http://www.co.cumberland.nj.us/content/2...
2. http://www.co.cumberland.nj.us/OPRArequest

Thank you. Our Board of Elections Administrator is working with the County IT department to determine whether there are documents responsive to your request.

Melissa D. Strickland, Esq.
Assistant County Counsel
OPRA Records Custodian

County of Cumberland
164 W. Broad Street
Bridgeton, NJ 08302
Ph: (856) 453-2165
Fax: (856) 453-2168
[email address]

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Good afternoon,

Please be advised that the County’s IT Department has performed a search
in accordance with your request that resulted in 1138 emails which are
potentially responsive. 

It will take an extraordinary amount of time and effort to review these
emails and as such, I am reaching out to you to determine how you would
like to move forward.  If you would like the Board of Elections to review
these emails individually to determine whether they are responsive, we
will have to discuss a special service charge.  Pursuant to N.J.S.A.
47:1A-5: “Whenever the nature, format, manner of collation, or volume of a
government record embodied in the form of printed matter to be inspected,
examined, or copied pursuant to this section is such that the record
cannot be reproduced by ordinary document copying equipment in ordinary
business size or involves an extraordinary expenditure of time and effort
to accommodate the request, the public agency may charge, in addition to
the actual cost of duplicating the record, a special service charge that
shall be reasonable and shall be based upon the actual direct cost of
providing the copy or copies ; provided, however, that in the case of a
municipality, rates for the duplication of particular records when the
actual cost of copying exceeds the foregoing rates shall be established in
advance by ordinance. The requestor shall have the opportunity to review
and object to the charge prior to it being incurred.”

However, there is still the concern about whether your request, as
written, is requiring the Board of Elections to conduct research.  In the
case of MAG Entertainment v. Division of Alcohol and Beverage Control (372
N.J.Super. 534), the Court stated that “[u]nder OPRA, agencies are
required to disclose only ‘identifiable’ government records not otherwise
exempt…In short, OPRA does not countenance open-ended searches of an
agency’s files.”  This request, as worded, is contrary to the purpose of
OPRA and would result in an open ended search of the County’s records. If
you can kindly clarify your request with more specificity, we may be able
to narrow the findings and eliminate a discussion regarding special
service charges.

I look forward to your response.  If you have any questions or concerns,
please feel free to contact me.

Thank you.

Melissa

Melissa D. Strickland, Esq.

Assistant County Counsel

OPRA Records Custodian

County of Cumberland

164 W. Broad Street

Bridgeton, NJ 08302

Ph: (856) 453-2165

Fax: (856) 453-2168

[email address]

From: LizBeth Hernandez <[email address]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2021 3:14 PM
To: Melissa D. Strickland <[email address]>
Cc: Mae Peterson <[email address]>
Subject: RE: FW: Email Search for OPRA

Good Afternoon Melissa,

I asked IT to perform the search as requested.  IT stated that the could
not perform the search for “Subject or Content mentioning a non-government
organization, non-profit and/or private corporation or foundation
providing funding (grants or donations) for the county to purchase new
voting machines, ballot scanners, mail handlers, electronic poll books,
software, or other new election technology to be used by Cumberland County
in elections” and they provided all emails from all users.  Therefore the
search results in 1138 emails.  

Will I have to research each email to fulfill this request?

Thank you,

Lizbeth Hernandez, Administrator

Cumberland County Board of Elections

(856) 451-2654

(856) 453-5801

[1][Cumberland County Board of Elections request email]

From: Melissa D. Strickland
Sent: Friday, July 9, 2021 5:21 AM
To: LizBeth Hernandez <[2][email address]>
Cc: Mae Peterson <[3][email address]>
Subject: Fw: FW: Email Search for OPRA

Good morning, Lizbeth. I hope you are enjoying your vacation. I am
forwarding you the response I received from the OPRA requester regarding
the email search. Please see below. I recommend that you share this
information with IT to try to narrow the search. Let me know if additional
assistance is needed from me.

Thanks!

Melissa

Melissa D. Strickland, Esq.

Assistant Cumberland County Counsel

County of Cumberland

164 West Broad Street

Bridgeton, NJ 08302

Ph:    (856) 453-2124

Fax:  (856) 453-2168

[4][email address]

════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

From: Shelly Kennedy
<[5][OPRA #24031 email]>
Sent: Thursday, July 8, 2021 11:29 PM
To: Melissa D. Strickland <[6][email address]>
Subject: Re: FW: Email Search for OPRA

EXTERNAL EMAIL: Do not click any links or open any attachments unless you
trust the sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Melissa,

Pursuant to your request for clarification on my request's Item 7.

(1) the subject and/or content of the email;

---Subject or Content including the words "CTCL" or "Center for Tech and
Civic Life" or "Center for Tech & Civic Life"

---Subject or Content mentioning a non-government organization, non-profit
and/or private corporation or foundation providing funding (grants or
donations) for the county to purchase new voting machines, ballot
scanners, mail handlers, electronic poll books, software, or other new
election technology to be used by Cumberland County in elections.

(2) the identity of the sender and/or recipient thereof;

Emails where either the send or recipient is one or more of the following:

--Board of Elections Member Russell Creech ​

--Board of Elections MemberRobin Wood

--Board of Elections Member Tamara Davis

--Board of Elections Member Judith Laning

--Freeholder Liaison Darlene Barber

--Lizbeth Hernandez, administrator of the Cumberland County Board of
Elections

--I don't know the name, but whoever prepares the budget for Cumberland
County board of elections

(3) a specific date or range of dates during which the email(s) were

transmitted.

January 1, 2020 to June 18, 2021

Yours sincerely,

Shelly Kennedy

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Hello, Ms. Kennedy,

I have forwarded your clarified response to the Board of Elections and our IT department for further consideration and handling.

Thank you and have a great evening,
Melissa

Melissa D. Strickland, Esq.
Assistant County Counsel
OPRA Records Custodian

County of Cumberland
164 W. Broad Street
Bridgeton, NJ 08302
Ph: (856) 453-2165
Fax: (856) 453-2168
[email address]

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Hi Ms. Kennedy!

I forwarded your inquiry about response times to the Board of Elections' Administrator, who is the custodian of their records, and I believe she will be in contact with you in short order.

Thanks and have a great day,
Melissa

Melissa D. Strickland, Esq.
Assistant County Counsel
OPRA Records Custodian

County of Cumberland
164 W. Broad Street
Bridgeton, NJ 08302
Ph: (856) 453-2165
Fax: (856) 453-2168
[email address]

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Good Morning Shelly Kennedy,

I have attached the emails that are responsive to your OPRA request. 
Please contact me with any questions.

Thank you,

Lizbeth Hernandez, Administrator

Cumberland County Board of Elections

(856) 451-2654

(856) 453-5801

[Cumberland County Board of Elections request email]