Dear Records Custodian Wynne,

Please accept this electronic request for public records made pursuant to the Open Public Records Act and the common law right of access. I am not required to use an official form or software platform under N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(f).

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 these records in connection with a legal proceeding.

I exercise all rights afforded to me as a resident of New Jersey under the New Jersey Constitution, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, the common law right of access, and all statutory protections provided by OPRA. No purpose or justification for this request is required under N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(f).

I may not be subject to retaliation, discrimination, obstruction, or adverse action for submitting a public records request. This request must be construed liberally in favor of access, consistent with OPRA’s presumption of transparency, and any ambiguity must be resolved in favor of disclosure.

If any portion of this request is unclear, OPRA requires you to contact me for clarification rather than deny access.

If any portion of this request is denied, in whole or in part, OPRA requires you to cite the specific legal exemption for each withheld record and provide a written index describing each withheld item, consistent with N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(g).

If any responsive record does not exist, please provide the required written certification of non-existence pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(g). If you assert that no records exist, please certify that a reasonable search was conducted across all systems and departments where responsive records are maintained.

If records exist electronically, please produce them electronically along with any associated metadata maintained in the ordinary course of business.

Please also preserve all responsive records pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-9.

Please note that OPRA requires a search of all locations where responsive records may reasonably be maintained, including but not limited to: email systems, servers, electronic files, attachments, individual mailboxes, shared drives, archives, backups, and storage systems.

This request is not dependent on how the Borough organizes or labels its records.

If any record contains exempt material, OPRA requires the release of all non-exempt portions with appropriate redactions.

If any responsive record is withheld, in whole or in part, please confirm whether the record exists and identify it in the required index.

Records requested:

1. Any master list, spreadsheet, log, register, index, report, database export, or other summary record maintained in the ordinary course of business and used to track or summarize litigation, that lists civil lawsuits filed on or after January 1, 2017 through the present date in which (a) the Borough of Matawan and/or (b) any Borough board, commission, committee, or authority (including but not limited to land use boards, planning board, zoning board, environmental commission, and similar public bodies) was named as a party in any capacity (plaintiff, defendant, third-party, or intervenor) in any federal, state, county, or municipal court or administrative tribunal. For each matter, to the extent such fields are maintained in the record itself, please include all fields that are already part of the record, such as: case caption, docket number, court or tribunal, date filed, names of parties, role of the Borough or board/commission, and current status or disposition (e.g., pending, settled, dismissed, judgment entered). This item includes any such records maintained separately by year, department, outside counsel, risk manager, insurer, or joint insurance fund.

2. Any existing written certification, cover letter, memorandum, email, or similar record, created in the ordinary course of Borough business, in which the Borough’s records custodian, Borough Attorney, risk manager, insurer, joint insurance fund representative, or other appropriate official has attested to the completeness and/or accuracy of any list, log, spreadsheet, register, report, or database export described in Item 1 for any period on or after January 1, 2017 through the present.

These are discrete, identifiable government records. No explanations, interpretations, or creation of new documents are requested.

My preferred delivery method is email with attachments.
If you are not the custodian, please forward this request to the correct custodian and notify me of their contact information.

Thank you,
John Certo

Dear Records Custodian Karen Wynne,

This is a records preservation notice issued pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-9 and the common law right of access. Please preserve, maintain, and not destroy, delete, alter, overwrite, conceal, or modify any records responsive to this OPRA request while the request is pending and until it is fully and finally resolved. This preservation obligation applies immediately upon receipt of this request.

This duty applies regardless of routine or automated deletion policies, email retention limits, backup overwrites, document management schedules, device replacement, or any other internal records management practices.

This preservation obligation applies to all formats and locations where responsive records may reasonably be maintained, including emails, attachments, drafts, internal notes or memoranda, logs, tracking records, databases, shared drives, cloud storage, third party systems used by or for the Borough, metadata, and system generated records maintained in the ordinary course of business.

This notice is issued by me solely in my capacity as a private New Jersey resident exercising statutory and constitutional rights under the New Jersey Constitution, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Open Public Records Act, and the common law right of access. No adverse action, retaliation, obstruction, or discriminatory treatment may lawfully result from the exercise of these rights.

If any responsive record is later asserted not to exist, please provide the written certification of non existence required by N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5(g), certifying that a reasonable search was conducted across all systems and departments where responsive records are ordinarily maintained.

Thank you.

John Certo