Opra Request
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:
I am requesting to receive a list of all residential properties that have had Code Enforcement violations issued to the property between the dates of 11/14/20 and 01/14/21.
Yours faithfully,
corey
I, the official Records Custodian for the Township of Verona, received
your OPRA request on January 18, 2021. As such, the seven (7) business
day deadline to respond to your request is January 27, 2021. This
response to your request is being provided immediately upon custodian’s
receipt of said request.
Your OPRA request sought access to the following:
"...a list of all residential properties that have had Code Enforcement
violations issued to the property between the dates of 11/14/2020 and
1/14/2021."
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. Simply put, the requested documents are filed by block and
lot, not date and therefore requires research.
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 [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.