Official report in connection with fire at Claridge 2 Condominiums on July 3, 2023.
Dear Verona Township,
This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please acknowledge receipt of this message.
Records requested:
Official report in connection with fire at Claridge 2 Condominiums on July 3, 2023, including cause and exact location of fire.
Yours faithfully,
Laurence S. Moelis
2 Claridge Drive, Apt 7CW
Verona, NJ 07044
Cell: (516) 448-7299
Alt. Cell: (973) 747-9393
Good afternoon. Attached are the documents responsive to your request.
However, the incident is still under investigation, therefore the fire
official's report is not disclosable at this time
Jennifer Kiernan, RMC
Municipal Clerk
Township of Verona
600 Bloomfield Avenue
Verona, NJ 07044
973.857.4770
[1]Municipal Clerk Webpage
Dear Verona Township,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Open Public Records Act reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Verona Township's handling of my OPRA request 'Official report in connection with fire at Claridge 2 Condominiums on July 3, 2023.'.
This was a major fire event that resulted in the evacuation of the entire west side of the building for nearly a week. Subsequently, residents were left without elevators and have since had major rehab work done to account for massive amounts of water used by the fire departments resulting in mold and apartment damage.
A full history of my OPRA request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://opramachine.com/request/official...
Yours faithfully,
Laurence S. Moelis
Mr. Moelis:
Good afternoon. Forgive me but I am unable to identify what documents you
are requesting in this email, but I do recall your OPRA submissions and my
responses regarding Claridge II: (see below)
Jul 28, 2023 at 12:59 PM Laurence
S. Moelis <[1][OPRA #49174 email]> wrote:
Dear Verona Township,
This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law
right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please
acknowledge receipt of this message.
Records requested:
Official report in connection with fire at Claridge 2 Condominiums on
July 3, 2023, including cause and exact location of fire.
** I responded to that request the following day:
Jennifer Kiernan <[2][Verona Township request email]> [3]AttachmentsSat, Jul 29,
2:28 PM
to Laurence
Good afternoon. Attached are the documents responsive to your request.
However, the incident is still under investigation, therefore the fire
official's report is not disclosable at this time
** I received a second OPRA request from you the same day:
Laurence S. Fri,
Moelis <[4][email address]> Jul 28,
1:00 PM
to me
Dear Verona Township,
This is a request for public records made under OPRA and the common law
right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form. Please
acknowledge receipt of this message.
Records requested:
Official report in connection with a "smoke event" at Claridge 2
Condominiums on July 27, 2023, including cause and exact location of said
event.
** I responded to that request 4 business days after
to [5][email address]:
Jennifer Kiernan <[6][Verona Township request email]> [7]AttachmentsFri, Aug 4,
2:09 PM
to Laurence
Good afternoon. Attached please find the documents responsive to your
request. Thank you
** I sent a follow up response :23 minutes later:
Jennifer Kiernan <[8][Verona Township request email]> [9]AttachmentsFri, Aug 4,
2:32 PM
to Laurence
[10]([email address])
My apologies....I accidentally omitted the police report from my initial
response.
Attached are the records responsive to your request for the Claridge II
incident on July 27. Thank you
On August 16th, I sent an email and bcc'd
"[11][email address]" where I
provided the fire report requested for the July 3 incident at Claridge II:
Jennifer Kiernan <[12][Verona Township request email]> [13]AttachmentsWed, Aug
16, 3:51 PM
to bcc: Guy, bcc: Lisa, bcc: Laurence, bcc: Virginia, bcc: tcrino
Good afternoon. Pursuant to your previous OPRA request, attached is the
fire report.
This concludes the Township's response to your request.
** As a courtesy, I am again providing the police report, fire department
call sheet and fire report for the JULY 5 incident at Claridge II. I am
also providing the police report and fire department call sheet responsive
to your request for the JULY 27 incident at Claridge II.
If your request for access to a government record has been denied or
unfilled within the seven (7) business days required by law, you have a
right to challenge the decision by the Township of Verona to deny access.
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
P.O. Box 819, Trenton, NJ, 08625, by e-mail at [14][email address], or
at their web site at [15]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.
Jennifer Kiernan, RMC
Municipal Clerk
Township of Verona
600 Bloomfield Avenue
Verona, NJ 07044
973.857.4770
[16]Municipal Clerk Webpage
Jennifer Kiernan, RMC
Municipal Clerk
Township of Verona
600 Bloomfield Avenue
Verona, NJ 07044
973.857.4770
[17]Municipal Clerk Webpage
Jennifer Kiernan, RMC
Municipal Clerk
Township of Verona
600 Bloomfield Avenue
Verona, NJ 07044
973.857.4770
[18]Municipal Clerk Webpage
Dear Jennifer Kiernan,
Thank you for your prompt response.
The information I am seeking is the official report(s) regarding the fire that occurred at the Claridge 2 condominium on July 3, 2023.
Per your message to me in the below chain, from back in late-July, you indicated that the incident was still under investigation and so there had been no report. Has one since been filed? If not, then I understand the delay, pending when an official report is actually filed. If it has been, will you now be able to provide me with a copy?
Thank you for your time.
-Larry Moelis
Yours sincerely,
Laurence S. Moelis
The response to your request for the July 5 incident was sent on 8/16 (see
below). I sent it
to [1][email address], which was the
email address you used to submit the request.
In that email, the Fire Official's report was provided as an attachment
titled "FIRE REPORT - Claridge II 070523".
I notice that the email you are using in this email thread is the same
email address that sent the July 27 incident request:
[2][OPRA #49174 email]
This afternoon I again attached the fire report along with the
police report and fire department call log as well as the responsive
documents to your request for the July 27 incident at Claridge II.
The July 5 Fire Official's report is attached to this email (FIRE REPORT -
Claridge II 070523)
I hope this resolved this issue. Enjoy your weekend.
Jennifer Kiernan
Municipal Clerk
Township of Verona
973.857.4770
[3]www.VeronaNJ.org/ClerkForms
On Wed, Aug 16, 2023, 3:51 PM Jennifer Kiernan <[4][Verona Township request email]>
wrote:
Good afternoon. Pursuant to your previous OPRA request, attached is the
fire report.
This concludes the Township's response to your request.
Jennifer Kiernan, RMC
Municipal Clerk
Township of Verona
600 Bloomfield Avenue
Verona, NJ 07044
973.857.4770
[5]Municipal Clerk Webpage
Visit us on the web at [6]www.VeronaNJ.org
Register for Smart-911 Alerts [7]here
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