Overdose lists for 2019
Dear Middle Township,
Please provide the redacted police/Ems reports for overdoses and possible overdoses from 1/1/2018-5/23/2019.
Yours faithfully,
Brian Neill
Good morning,
Please allow this email to serve as confirmation that we have received your request and will respond within the timeframe allotted by OPRA.
Thank you.
Emily Bowman, C.M.R.
Keyboarding Clerk
Deputy Registrar of Vital Statistics
Township of Middle
33 Mechanic Street
Cape May Court House, NJ 08210
Office: (609) 465-8721 or (609) 465-8722
Facisimile (609) 465-9659
Email: [email address]
Website: www.middletownship.com
Good afternoon Brian,
I apologize for the delay. The person that processes the information is out sick.
We will require a sort extension but will have the information to you by Friday afternoon.
Thank you,
Emily Bowman, C.M.R.
Deputy Registrar of Vital Statistics
Township of Middle
33 Mechanic Street
Cape May Court House, NJ 08210
Office: (609) 465-8721 or (609) 465-8722
Facisimile (609) 465-9659
Email: [email address]
Website: www.middletownship.com
Dear Emily Bowman,
not a problem. Thank you for your attention in this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Brian Neill
Good morning,
We have reviewed the information presented by our Police Department. The information you have requested resulted in 49 pages, of which 46 pages will contain redactions (personal identifying information / phone numbers N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1; All Victim names associated with overdoses Executive Order 26, item 4; all criminal investigatory information NJSA 47:1A-1.1)
This redaction will cost $2.45 ($0.05 per redacted page). We will require full payment prior to preparing this request.
Payment should be made payable to the Township of Middle and should be forwarded to the address below prior to release of records. We ask that when making payment you provide exact payment as we will not have the mechanism to provide change. Our business hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30am through 4:00pm.
Once payment is received we will forward the item to you via email at the email address provided on your request.
Please acknowledge receipt of this email and the cost for duplication.
Emily Bowman, C.M.R.
Keyboarding Clerk
Deputy Registrar of Vital Statistics
Township of Middle
33 Mechanic Street
Cape May Court House, NJ 08210
Office: (609) 465-8721 or (609) 465-8722
Facisimile (609) 465-9659
Email: [email address]
Website: www.middletownship.com
Dear Emily Bowman,
24.How much can the custodian charge me for my OPRA request?
Custodians may charge the fee prescribed by law or regulation, if another law sets a specific fee for specific record. What does this mean? This sentence means that custodians are to charge OPRA requestors any copy fees that are established by other New Jersey laws or regulations, if said fees exist.
For example, N.J.S.A. 22A:4-1a sets forth specific fees for certain records filed with the New Jersey Department of Treasury (and requested from the Department of Treasury). Specifically, said statute provides that "[i]f a roll of microfilm images is requested, the State Treasurer shall collect a fee of $1.00 for each image on the microfilm roll." Thus, if a requestor seeks access to a microfilm roll from the Department of Treasury, the Department's custodian must charge the fees established in N.J.S.A. 22A:4-1a. The same applies for any other records that have specific fees established in other New Jersey laws or regulations.
Municipal ordinances do not qualify under OPRA as being another law or regulation.
If there is no other fee established by law or regulation, the standard copying fee is $0.05 per page for letter sized printed pages and $0.07 per page for legal sized printed pages. This is the most common copying fee under OPRA. For example, a custodian providing access to 3 pages of printed meeting minutes on letter size pages would charge a requestor $0.15 ($0.05 per page for 3 pages = $0.15).
If a public agency can prove that its actual costs to produce printed pages are more than $0.05/$0.07, the agency may charge its actual costs. Click here for details on how an agency may calculate its actual costs.
Electronic records sent via e-mail or fax are free of charge.
Custodians must charge the actual cost for all other materials such as CD, DVD, cassette, etc. The actual cost is the cost of the material only and cannot include any labor fees. For example, if the GRC purchased a package of 100 CD-ROMs for $100 and provided records to a requestor on 1 CD-ROM, the actual cost of said CD-ROM is $1.00 ($100 ÷ 100 = $1.00).
ELECTRONIC RECORDS ARE FREE ACCORDING TO THE STATE SENT BY EMAIL OR FAX ARE FREE OF CHARGE. PLEASE ADVISE.
Yours sincerely,
Brian Neill
Mr. Neill,
Please be advised that if these record require to be manually redacted we are able to charge for the same. The records you are requesting will require manual redaction of exempt portions. In Paff V. Twp of Teaneck as well as Paff V. Gloucester City both indicated that although the actual cost for providing records electronically is likely $0.00 because the custodian had to make copies to redact the requested minutes prior to providing same electronically, the custodian’s charge represented the actual cost to provide the records, pursuant to NJSA 47:1A-5(b).
As stated below, although you are requesting these items emailed to you we will need to redact 46 of the 49 pages that contain redactions on personal identifying information / phone numbers (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1); All Victim names associated with overdoses (Executive Order 26, item 4); all criminal investigatory information (NJSA 47:1A-1.1) prior to release.
Please advise if you would like for us to move forward with your redacted items listed above.
Dear Kim Krauss,
Ok. I conducted opra requests with 10 different communities and your municipality is the only one to charge. The county which sent me everyone’s records did not charge. So how much do you need to get this done and explain what the charges are for. Thanks for your help in this.
Yours sincerely,
Brian Neill
Mr. Neill,
My original email below indicates what the redactions required are, and Emily's email from 06/07/2019 reflect the fee.
To recap her email dated 06/07/2019:
We have reviewed the information presented by our Police Department. The information you have requested resulted in 49 pages, of which 46 pages will contain redactions (personal identifying information / phone numbers N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1; All Victim names associated with overdoses Executive Order 26, item 4; all criminal investigatory information NJSA 47:1A-1.1)
This redaction will cost $2.45 ($0.05 per redacted page). We will require full payment prior to preparing this request.
Payment should be made payable to the Township of Middle and should be forwarded to the address below prior to release of records. We ask that when making payment you provide exact payment as we will not have the mechanism to provide change. Our business hours are Monday through Friday, 8:30am through 4:00pm.
Once payment is received we will forward the item to you via email at the email address provided on your request.
Dear Kim Krauss,
I will make sure I get the payment to you as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely,
Brian Neill
Good afternoon,
Thank you for your payment of $2.45.
Attached, please find all available documents relative to your request which contain redactions (personal identifying information / phone numbers N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1; All Victim names associated with overdoses Executive Order 26, item 4; all criminal investigatory information NJSA 47:1A-1.1
This concludes your OPRA request.
Emily Bowman, C.M.R.
Keyboarding Clerk
Deputy Registrar of Vital Statistics
Township of Middle
33 Mechanic Street
Cape May Court House, NJ 08210
Office: (609) 465-8721 or (609) 465-8722
Facisimile (609) 465-9659
Email: [email address]
Website: www.middletownship.com