OPRA Request Correspondence
Dear Plumsted 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:
Any correspondence (Email/Text ect) regarding OPRA Request information between any township employee or official and Committeeman Hammerstone between the period of 1/1/2023 until 12/21/2023.
Any correspondence (Email/Text ect ) regarding OPRA Request information between any township employee or official and Committeeman Cuozzo between the period of 1/1/2023 until 12/21/2023.
Yours faithfully,
Steve Turner
Dear Plumsted Township,
I am just following up to see if you are going to respond to this. By law this should have been responded to by January 3rd 2024.
Yours faithfully,
Steve Turner
Good afternoon,
The Township of Plumsted received your Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request on December 22, 2023. As such, the seven (7) business day deadline to respond to your request is January 4, 2024. This response to your request is being provided to you on the 7th business day after the custodian’s receipt of said request.
Your OPRA request sought access to the following:
Any correspondence (Email/Text ect) regarding OPRA Request information between any township employee or official and Committeeman Hammerstone between the period of 1/1/2023 until 12/21/2023.
Any correspondence (Email/Text ect ) regarding OPRA Request information between any township employee or official and Committeeman Cuozzo between the period of 1/1/2023 until 12/21/2023.
Your request requires additional time beyond the seven (7) business days to fulfill because the information will require attorney review and redaction of confidential information. OPRA allows custodians to seek extensions of time pursuant to N.J.S.A. 47:1A-5.i. Specifically, OPRA states that, “the requestor shall be advised by the custodian when the record can be made available. If the record is not made available by that time, access shall be deemed denied.”
Your request requires an extension of time until January 31, 2024. If any records are available prior to that date, they will be provided to you.
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 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 [email address], or at their web site at 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.
Thank you.
Susan
Susan P. Smith
Records Clerk
Plumsted Township
Dear Susan Smith,
I respectfully disagree. This request was sent and is dated 12/21/2023, not 12/22/2023. Even with giving you the benefit of doubt that you did not see it and was first made aware on 12/22/2023 you still chose to wait until what you assumed was the very last minute to reply and on top of that seek an extension. This does not seem like complying in good faith with this request. Although I feel like this length of an extension is a little excessive I will agree to it. Based upon the OPRA policies regarding information that can be redacted, based upon what I am asking for there should be very little to nothing that meets that criteria. It also should not take that long to recover this information from your server . Please provide any and all information that I am seeking before this deadline or I will be forced to file a legal motion.
Yours sincerely,
Steve Turner
Dear Plumsted Township,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Open Public Records Act reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Plumsted Township's handling of my OPRA request 'OPRA Request Correspondence'.
This is the second occurrence that the township has not responded on time to my request.
A full history of my OPRA request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://opramachine.com/request/opra_req...
Yours faithfully,
Steve Turner
Mr. Turner,
Please be advised this firm represents Plumsted Township. I am in receipt of your request for an internal review of the response to your OPRA requests.
Regarding your 12/21/23 request, the time for a response to an OPRA request is calculated from when the custodian of records receives the request, not from when you sent it. Although it was sent on 12/21/23, it was not received by the custodian of records until 12/22. Documents need to be reviewed and possibly redacted prior to release. Your request sought a broad category of correspondence spanning a calendar year. The documents are currently under review and will be provided on or before January 31, 2024.
Robin La Bue, Esq.
98 East Water Street
Toms River, NJ 08753
o: 732.363.0777
f: 732.905.6555
[email address]
rmshc.law
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This Email and any attachments thereto are intended for the exclusive use of the addressee. The information contained herein may be privileged, confidential or otherwise exempt from disclosure by applicable laws, rules or regulations. If you have received this Email in error and are not the intended recipient, you are hereby placed on notice that any use, distribution, copying or dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this in error please notify the sender immediately at 732 363-0777 and delete this Email and any attachments immediately. Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.
his OPRA request, you will see a response he made to Susan's request for an extension of time:
"Dear Susan Smith,
I respectfully disagree. This request was sent and is dated 12/21/2023, not 12/22/2023. Even with giving you the benefit of doubt that you did not see it and was first made aware on 12/22/2023 you still chose to wait until what you assumed was the very last minute to reply and on top of that seek an extension. This does not seem like complying in good faith with this request. Although I feel like this length of an extension is a little excessive I will agree to it. Based upon the OPRA policies regarding information that can be redacted, based upon what I am asking for there should be very little to nothing that meets that criteria. It also should not take that long to recover this information from your server . Please provide any and all information that I am seeking before this deadline or I will be forced to file a legal motion.
Yours sincerely,
Steve Turner"
I asked Susan to prepare a timeline for the two OPRA requests made by Steve Turner. She has sent it to me in an email, which I will forward to you.
Would you please respond to him about his request for an investigation and his comment that he will be forced to file a legal motion?
Thank you,
Nadene
Nadene M. Cicero, RMC, CMR
Deputy Municipal Clerk/Deputy Registrar
Township of Plumsted
121 Evergreen Road
New Egypt, NJ 08533
609-758-2241 ext. 130
609-758-0123 (Fax)
[email address]
Dear Mr. Turner,
We require an extension to February 14, 2024 to respond to your OPRA request as the documents are still under review.
If we receive the documents prior to February 14, 2024, we will forward them to you.
Thank you,
Nadene
Nadene M. Cicero, RMC, CMR
Deputy Municipal Clerk/Deputy Registrar
Township of Plumsted
121 Evergreen Road
New Egypt, NJ 08533
609-758-2241 ext. 130
609-758-0123 (Fax)
[email address]
Dear Plumsted Township,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Open Public Records Act reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Plumsted Township's handling of my OPRA request 'OPRA Request Correspondence'.
Per previous communication from Robin La Bue Esq. these documents were currently under review and were promised to be provided on or before January 31, 2024. This information was provided only 3 days ago. I assume a competent individual would have known 3 days ago if an additional 14 days would be needed to provide information. I feel like this is blatant stalling and is unacceptable. I am requesting any already approved documents to be sent to me by COB Friday February 2nd and any additional documents to be sent as they are approved instead of waiting until the new deadline of February 14th. I have already spoken to my attorney and legal action will be taken if any further delays occur.
A full history of my OPRA request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://opramachine.com/request/opra_req...
Yours faithfully,
Steve Turner
Mr. Turner,
Please accept this correspondence on behalf of Plumsted Township. The Township received your request on 12/22/24 for the following:
•Any correspondence (Email/Text etc.) regarding OPRA Request information between any township employee or official and Committeeman Hammerstone between the period of 1/1/2023 until 12/21/2023.
•Any correspondence (Email/Text etc.) regarding OPRA Request information between any township employee or official and Committeeman Cuozzo between the period of 1/1/2023 until 12/21/2023
Extensions for time to respond were granted to January 31, 2024 and to February 14, 2024
Attached please find three files containing all responsive documents. The files entitled OPRA Request – Turner – Employee correspondence on OPRA requests with Hammerstone.Cuozzo File 1 and File 2 were redacted to remove unlisted phone numbers and for information that is protected due to attorney client-privilege, NJSA 47:1A-1.1, NJSA 47:1A-1.1.
The document entitled "Turner OPRA emails for attorney review" was redacted to remove unlisted phone numbers pursuant to NJSA 47:1A-1.1.
Robin La Bue, Esq.
98 East Water Street
Toms River, NJ 08753
o: 732.363.0777
f: 732.905.6555
[email address]
rmshc.law
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This Email and any attachments thereto are intended for the exclusive use of the addressee. The information contained herein may be privileged, confidential or otherwise exempt from disclosure by applicable laws, rules or regulations. If you have received this Email in error and are not the intended recipient, you are hereby placed on notice that any use, distribution, copying or dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this in error please notify the sender immediately at 732 363-0777 and delete this Email and any attachments immediately. Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.
Dear Robin La Bue,
Thank you very much for the quick response and getting those available at this time over to me. I know you mentioned in your January 28th message that there was a very large amount of emails that were being worked on. Do you happen to have a rough timeline on when I should be receiving the remaining emails since it was stated on January 31st that they were not all completed yet?
Yours sincerely,
Steve Turner
Mr. Turner,
You are welcome.
What was provided to you were all of the emails able to be located that were responsive to your request. There were many emails sent and received during the requested time period that were not responsive to the parameters of your request. The OPRA request is completed.
Robin La Bue, Esq.
98 East Water Street
Toms River, NJ 08753
o: 732.363.0777
f: 732.905.6555
[email address]
rmshc.law
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This Email and any attachments thereto are intended for the exclusive use of the addressee. The information contained herein may be privileged, confidential or otherwise exempt from disclosure by applicable laws, rules or regulations. If you have received this Email in error and are not the intended recipient, you are hereby placed on notice that any use, distribution, copying or dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this in error please notify the sender immediately at 732 363-0777 and delete this Email and any attachments immediately. Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.