Ben,
Kindly view the attached letter. 
Thank you. 
--
Warm Regards,
Alice Cassara
Clerk/Typist
Borough of Rockaway
1 East Main Street
Rockaway, New Jersey 07866
973-627-2000

Ben,
Kindly view the attached letter and send back the return receipt.
Thank you.
--
Warm Regards,
Alice Cassara
Clerk/Typist
Borough of Rockaway
1 East Main Street
Rockaway, New Jersey 07866
973-627-2000

Ben,
Kindly view the attached letter and send back the return receipt.
Thank you.
--
Warm Regards,
Alice Cassara
Clerk/Typist
Borough of Rockaway
1 East Main Street
Rockaway, New Jersey 07866
973-627-2000

August 5, 2020

Via Email

Dear Ben:

            The Borough of Rockaway (the “Borough”) received your Open
Public Records Act (“OPRA”) request on July 17 2020. By way of
correspondence, dated July 23, 2020, the Custodian advised that additional
time was required to respond to your request and that a response would be
provided on or before August 7, 2020. Moreover, in light of the recent
statutory amendment and the current public emergency, the typical deadline
for a response is inapplicable to this request. As such, this response is
being provided to you within a reasonable time as permitted by the
circumstances and within the time required by law.

            Your OPRA request sought access to the following:

A current list of records over the past 2 years for each of the following
be delivered via e-mail in Excel format:

1.  All abandoned/vacant residential properties (Property Class 2)

2.  All condemned properties

3.  All residential properties with delinquent taxes

4.  All residential properties for which a Lis Pendens notice has been
filed or that are currently in probate

5.  All properties that are absentee-owned

6.  All properties with delinquent water and sewer which date back up to 1
year, including amounts owed

7.  All properties currently listed with water shut-off notice

8.  All properties with code violations, including the type of violation

9.  All properties with notices of abatement.

Please be advised that the following records are responsive to Items 1, 2,
3, 6 and 8 of your request and are being provided in their entirety, in
Excel format, where possible:

1.      All abandoned/vacant residential properties (Property Class 2)

2.      All condemned properties

3.      All residential properties with delinquent taxes

6.      All properties with delinquent water and sewer which date back to
1 year, including amounts owed

8.      All properties with code violations, including the type of
violation.

As set forth and explained in greater detail below, please be advised that
no records responsive to the remainder of your request exist (i.e., lists
with the information requested). Moreover, the remainder of your request
is also invalid insofar as it fails to identify with reasonable clarity
the specific records sought. Specifically, as it pertains to the requests
for “lists” of “all properties” “for which a Lis Pendens notice has been
filed or that are currently in probate”, “that are absentee-owned”,
“currently listed with water shut-off notice” and “with notices of
abatement”, such an open-ended request would require the Records Custodian
to manually search through all of the files of multiple different
Departments within the municipal government, including the Building,
Construction, Health, Zoning, Fire Prevention and Water Utility
Departments, analyze, compile and collate the information contained
therein, identify those records containing responsive information and
create the lists you requested using the information contained in each
individual record. To be clear, the Borough does not maintain these types
of lists and does not have the capability of generating such lists with a
computer program or software.

OPRA does not "'authorize a party to make a blanket request for every
document' a public agency has on file… Rather, a party requesting access
to a public record under OPRA must specifically describe the document
sought." Bent v. Twp. of Stafford Police Dep't, 381 N.J. Super. 30, 37
(App. Div. 2005) (quoting Gannett N.J. Partners, LP v. Cty. of Middlesex,
379 N.J. Super. 205, 219 (App. Div. 2005)). An OPRA applicant “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. Bent, supra, 381 N.J.Super. at 37; see also Renna v.
Cnty. of Union, 407 N.J. Super. 230, 245 (App. Div. 2009) (“The custodian
must have before it sufficient information to make the threshold
determination as to the nature of the request and whether it falls within
the scope of OPRA.”); Gannett N.J. Partners, LP v.. Cnty. of Middlesex,
379 N.J. Super. 205, 212 (App. Div. 2005) (“OPRA requires a party
requesting access to a public record to specifically describe the document
sought.”). OPRA “is not intended as a research tool litigants may use to
force government officials to identify and siphon useful information.” MAG
Entm't, supra, 375 N.J.Super. at 546.

"A proper request [for information] 'must identify with reasonable clarity
those documents that are desired.'" Burke, 429 N.J. Super. at 174 (quoting
Bent, 381 N.J. Super. at 37). Requests for general information—like
here—that must be "analyzed, collated and compiled" by the agency are
outside the scope of OPRA. MAG, 375 N.J. Super. at 549. Requests requiring
the custodian to analyze and evaluate information to respond are improper.
See Burke, 429 N.J. Super. at 174; see also Bent, 381 N.J. Super. at 33-39
(denying a request for the "entire file" of the plaintiff's criminal
investigation because it "neither identifies nor describes with any
specificity or particularity of the records sought"); see also MAG, 375
N.J. Super. at 549 (holding the plaintiff's request invalid for failing to
provide any identifiers other than "a broad generic description of a brand
or type of case prosecuted by the agency in the past"); see also N.J.
Builder's Ass'n v. N.J. Council on Affordable Hous., 390 N.J. Super. 166,
172 (App. Div. 2007) (denying a request for "any and all documents and
data" for asking the agency to identify the documents rather than
specifically describing the documents sought).

            Notwithstanding that your request is invalid with respect to
the lists requested to the extent that that no records responsive to your
request exist insofar as the Borough does not maintain such lists, and
because it is unclear, overly broad, does not identify a specific
government record and entails an open-ended search of all of the agency’s
files, in the event you still wish to obtain copies of whatever records
you are seeking in this portion of your request the Borough would like to
help accommodate you. Initially, all of the records that contain the
information on the lists requested are stored primarily in the Borough
Hall. You are more than welcome to come to Borough Hall to examine any of
these records at your convenience during regular business hours. Kindly
contact the Records Custodian in advance if you wish to inspect any
records in-person as we may need to make arrangements to pull the
particular files you would like to examine. Alternatively, if you would
like to clarify and revise your request to seek a specific identifiable
government record, we will reconsider it. Feel free to contact me to
discuss other potential options for narrowing or clarifying the records
you are requesting or if you have any questions.

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 Borough of Rockaway 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 [1][email address], or at
their web site at [2]www.state.nj.us/grc. The GRC 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.

                                                                       
Sincerely,

                                                                       
Kimberly Cuspilich

                                                                       
Acting Borough Clerk

--
Warm Regards,
Alice Cassara
Clerk/Typist
Borough of Rockaway
1 East Main Street
Rockaway, New Jersey 07866
973-627-2000

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.state.nj.us/grc