Hello.  This is in response to your ORPA request.

Description of Information Requested:

1.Tax Account Delinquent Report Attached

2.Detailed Lien Status Report Attached

3.Residential code enforcement violations currently active Attached and
pending that include:

Residential Structures that are vacant and open to trespass • Denied.  The
borough does not maintain a list of vacant properties.

Residential Properties with grass or weeds in excess of the city’s height
limit   Denied.  The borough does not maintain a list of properties with
high grass.

Residential Structures without a current city certificate of occupancy •
Denied.  The borough does not maintain a list of structures without a city
certificate.

Residential Properties on the cities vacant property registry (if
applicable) Denied.  You have to identify the property you seek this
information for. 

The request by you is not a valid OPRA request for the following reason:

The OPRA (Open Public Records Act) law is intended to provide access to
government records that have been specifically identified and requested. 
It does not require that the Custodian of Records become a researcher for
the person making the request.  The requestor needs to identify the record
that is being requested and the Custodian of Records needs to provide
access to that specific record, unless it is exempted under the provisions
of the law. Your request is requesting that this office conduct research
to determine if such records exist.  This does not identify a specific
record, but rather asks for this office to perform a search to determine
if any of the above exists and subsequently provide the record.  This is
not identifying a record.  Therefore, your request is invalid.  As
mentioned above the law does not require that the Custodian of Records
become a researcher for the person making the request.  The requestor
needs to identify the record that is being requested and the Custodian of
Records needs to provide access to that specific record, unless it is
exempted under the provisions of the law.

Copies of any/all of any document are not considered a valid OPRA
request.  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 DO NOT USE OPRA TO SEEK INFORMATION.  PLEASE VISIT THE GOVERNMENT
RECORDS COUNCIL WEBSITE TO LEARN HOW TO PROPERLY REQUEST A DOCUMENT.

[1]https://www.state.nj.us/grc/

This request has been denied pursuant to N.J.S.A.

47:1A-5.f & Government Records Council Advisory Opinion 2006-01 on the
basis that the request is not for specific government records but is
seeking "information". Government agencies are required to disclose only
identifiable government records that are specifically described in the
request. Gannett N.J. Partners v. Middlesex, 379 N.J. Super. 205, 212
(App. Div. 2005), Bent v Twp of Stafford Police Dept, NJ Super. 30, 33
(App Div 2005).

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 Garwood to deny access.
You have a right to appeal the decision. You may take your appeal to the
Government Records Council, P.O. Box 819, Trenton, NJ 08625, or to the New
Jersey Superior Court, as provided by N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq.  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 [2][email address], or at their web site at
[3]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.

Christina M. Ariemma, RMC
Borough Administrator/Municipal Clerk
Borough of Garwood
403 South Avenue
Garwood, NJ 07027
p. 908-789-0710
f.  908-789-7978
e. [4][Garwood Borough request email]
[5]www.garwood.org

NEW JERSEY'S OPEN PUBLIC MEETINGS ACT "THE SUNSHINE LAW"

New Jersey’s Open Public Meetings Act, known as "The Sunshine Law," is
designed to ensure that decision-making government bodies in the state
conduct their businesses in public except in specific circumstances where
exclusion of the public is needed to protect the privacy of individuals,
the safety of the public or the effectiveness of government in such areas
as negotiations or investigations. Open Public Meetings Act, N.J.S.A
10:4-6

Please do not cross communicate via email, telephone or text as you may be
in violation of said law.

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MESSAGE IS INTENDED ONLY FOR THE
PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL USE OF THE DESIGNATED RECIPIENTS NAMED HEREIN.

This message is a privileged and confidential. If the reader of this
message is not the intended recipient or any agent responsible for
delivering it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you
have received this document in error, and that any review, dissemination,
distribution or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you
have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by
reply e-mail message or by telephone. Thank you.

Open Public Records Act P.L. 2001, CHAPTER 40 N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1 et seq. 
(OPRA) "Government record" or "record" means any paper, written or printed
book, document, drawing, map, plan, photograph, microfilm, data processed
or image processed document, information stored or maintained
electronically or by sound-recording or in a similar device, or any copy
thereof, that has been made, maintained or kept on file in the course of
his or its official business by any officer, commission, agency or
authority of the State or of any political subdivision thereof, including
subordinate boards thereof, or that has been received in the course of his
or its official business by any such officer, commission, agency, or
authority of the State or of any political subdivision thereof, including
subordinate boards thereof. The terms shall not include inter-agency or
intra-agency advisory, consultative, or deliberative material.  Please be
advised that this email communication is subject to the above and may or
may not be disclosed in accordance with law at the discretion of the
"Custodian of Records" and legal counsel of the Borough of Garwood.

Save the trees, use technology!!

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