Good morning-

I am in receipt of your Open Public Records request where you ask “Do you
have any public records?  The open space levy would be in the tax rate
certification.” This is not a valid OPRA request. 

This request seeks information or asks questions and does not identify
specific government records.  As such, your request is an invalid OPRA
request and is denied.  When a request is “complex” because it fails to
specifically identify the documents sought, then that request is not
“encompassed” by OPRA. See New Jersey Builders Association v. New Jersey
Council on Affordable Housing, 390 N.J.Super. 166, 180 (App. Div. 2007). 
A proper request under OPRA must identify with reasonable clarity those
documents that are desired, and a party cannot satisfy this requirement by
simply requesting all of an agency's documents.  See Bent v. Stafford
Police Department, 381 N.J.Super. 30, 37 (App. Div.  2005). Custodians are
not required to conduct research or create new records in response to an
OPRA request. 

Please resubmit a request asking for a specific public document and I will
get to work on it right away.  Thanks so much.

Sincerely,

Amy E. Stewart, RMC, CMR

Deputy Township Clerk/Deputy Registrar

Township of Ocean

399 Monmouth Road

Oakhurst, NJ 07755

(732) 531-5000 ext. 3322