Public meeting minutes (20220829-2.txt)
Please accept this as my request for government records under both OPRA and the common law right of access. Thank you very much for your commitment to transparent government.
BACKGROUND:
On August 4, 2022, after noticing that the most recent set of Borough Council public meeting minutes then available on the Borough's website was from November 17, 2020, I submitted an OPRA request for the "minutes of every public meeting of the Borough Council held after November 17, 2020." Within the request, I encouraged the Borough Clerk, instead of disclosing the minutes to me only, to instead publish them on the Borough's website so that everyone in the public could benefit from them.
In her response, the Clerk directed me to the Borough's website, which included several sets of minutes that had not been uploaded at the time of my request, and informed me that "some minutes have yet to be adopted by council, however, they will be published on the website as they are completed and approved by the governing body."
After reviewing the website, I have identified the following dates within 2020, 2021 and 2022 (see my request below) for which meetings were said to have occurred but for which no minutes are yet available. Again, I encourage the Clerk to post those minutes on-line instead of just sending them to me. However, this time, for each set of minutes from the list below that are not disclosed (or uploaded the Borough's website) I would like to know if they are not being disclosed because a) they exist but have not been approved by Borough Council, b) they have not yet been reduced to writing, c) the meeting never occurred or d) some other specified reason.
In other words, I don't believe it would be acceptable for the Clerk, as she did in her August 11, 2022 OPRA response, to say, in effect, that "I've put some minutes up on the website and the others will get put there when the are completed or approved." Rather, I believe that OPRA entitles me to be informed, for each set of minutes from the list below that is not disclosed, the specific reason for nondisclosure.
RECORDS REQUESTED:
The minutes of the Borough Council's public meetings held on the following dates.
1. In 2020: 04/21 and 09/01.
2. In 2021: 03/17, 08/05, 08/17, 09/07, 09/23, 10/05, 10/19, 11/03, 11/23 and 12/21.
3. In 2022: 04/19, 06/09 and 08/08.
Received, thank you.
Sharon R. Williams, RMC, CMR
1 State Street
Penns Grove, NJ 08069
Office: (856) 299-0098, ext. 103
Cell: (856) 381-9324
Facsimile: (856) 299-3411
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
From: John Paff <[OPRA #34988 email]>
Sent: Monday, August 29, 2022 2:23 PM
To: Sharon Williams <[email address]>
Subject: OPRA request - Public meeting minutes (20220829-2.txt)
Please accept this as my request for government records under both OPRA
and the common law right of access. Thank you very much for your
commitment to transparent government.
BACKGROUND:
On August 4, 2022, after noticing that the most recent set of Borough
Council public meeting minutes then available on the Borough's website was
from November 17, 2020, I submitted an OPRA request for the "minutes of
every public meeting of the Borough Council held after November 17,
2020." Within the request, I encouraged the Borough Clerk, instead of
disclosing the minutes to me only, to instead publish them on the
Borough's website so that everyone in the public could benefit from them.
In her response, the Clerk directed me to the Borough's website, which
included several sets of minutes that had not been uploaded at the time of
my request, and informed me that "some minutes have yet to be adopted by
council, however, they will be published on the website as they are
completed and approved by the governing body."
After reviewing the website, I have identified the following dates within
2020, 2021 and 2022 (see my request below) for which meetings were said to
have occurred but for which no minutes are yet available. Again, I
encourage the Clerk to post those minutes on-line instead of just sending
them to me. However, this time, for each set of minutes from the list
below that are not disclosed (or uploaded the Borough's website) I would
like to know if they are not being disclosed because a) they exist but
have not been approved by Borough Council, b) they have not yet been
reduced to writing, c) the meeting never occurred or d) some other
specified reason.
In other words, I don't believe it would be acceptable for the Clerk, as
she did in her August 11, 2022 OPRA response, to say, in effect, that
"I've put some minutes up on the website and the others will get put there
when the are completed or approved." Rather, I believe that OPRA entitles
me to be informed, for each set of minutes from the list below that is not
disclosed, the specific reason for nondisclosure.
RECORDS REQUESTED:
The minutes of the Borough Council's public meetings held on the following
dates.
1. In 2020: 04/21 and 09/01.
2. In 2021: 03/17, 08/05, 08/17, 09/07, 09/23, 10/05, 10/19, 11/03, 11/23
and 12/21.
3. In 2022: 04/19, 06/09 and 08/08.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use deliver records electronically via email to the below UNIQUE
address for all replies to this request:
[OPRA #34988 email]
Is [Penns Grove Borough request email] the wrong address for OPRA requests to
Penns Grove Borough? If so, please contact us using this form:
[1]https://opramachine.com/change_request/n...
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[2]https://opramachine.com/help/officers
View this OPRA request & responses online:
[3]https://opramachine.com/request/public_m...
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.
If you find this service useful as an OPRA custodian, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's website.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
References
Visible links
1. https://opramachine.com/change_request/n...
2. https://opramachine.com/help/officers
3. https://opramachine.com/request/public_m...
Good Afternoon Mr. Paff,
Please see the attached.
Sharon R. Williams, RMC, CMR
1 State Street
Penns Grove, NJ 08069
Office: (856) 299-0098, ext. 103
Cell: (856) 381-9324
Facsimile: (856) 299-3411
Thank you Ms. Williams:
The only set of minutes set forth in my request that was not addressed in your response are those from 09/07/21. Would you please address this set of minutes?
Thank you.
John Paff
Dear Ms. Williams:
Just a suggestion: A person looking at the https://pennsgrove-nj.org/borough-council/ page will not know which meetings were not held. For example, we both know that that November 23, 2021 was not held. But, a person visiting the website would see the listed agenda and assume the meeting was held and wonder why no minutes are present. Could you possibly add a little bit of text (such as "not held") for each meeting that was not held?
Thank you.
John Paff
The September 7, 2021 minutes have not been reduced to writing. They will
be presented to Council at the October 4^th meeting, and if adopted, will
be immediately posted to the website.
Sharon R. Williams, RMC, CMR
1 State Street
Penns Grove, NJ 08069
Office: (856) 299-0098, ext. 103
Cell: (856) 381-9324
Facsimile: (856) 299-3411
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
From: John Paff <[OPRA #34988 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2022 3:28 PM
To: Sharon Williams <[email address]>
Subject: Re: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST DATED AUGUST 29, 2022
Thank you Ms. Williams:
The only set of minutes set forth in my request that was not addressed in
your response are those from 09/07/21. Would you please address this set
of minutes?
Thank you.
John Paff
Great point....thank you,
Sharon R. Williams, RMC, CMR
1 State Street
Penns Grove, NJ 08069
Office: (856) 299-0098, ext. 103
Cell: (856) 381-9324
Facsimile: (856) 299-3411
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
From: John Paff <[OPRA #34988 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2022 3:35 PM
To: Sharon Williams <[email address]>
Subject: Re: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST DATED AUGUST 29, 2022
Dear Ms. Williams:
Just a suggestion: A person looking at the
[1]https://pennsgrove-nj.org/borough-council/ page will not know which
meetings were not held. For example, we both know that that November 23,
2021 was not held. But, a person visiting the website would see the
listed agenda and assume the meeting was held and wonder why no minutes
are present. Could you possibly add a little bit of text (such as "not
held") for each meeting that was not held?
Thank you.
John Paff