OPRA-Req-24-1734
Date Received: 12/9/2024
Status: Received
Applicant: Old Bridge Watchdog
Information Requested: Records requested:
Please provide us with all compensation that ALL department heads
receive including but not limited to base pay and stipends from
1-1-24 to present. For any employee that receives a stipend, a
description of what the stipend is for. This request is to include
the Mayor and Business Administrator.

My preferred delivery method for response(s) to this request is by
E-mail as attachments. Please confirm you have received this
request. If you are not the custodian of records, please forward
my request to that person and provide their email address to me
for future reference.

Please accept this electronic request for public records made
under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required
to fill out an official form or use a particular software platform
to submit my request per NJSA 47:1A-6(f), which states that an
email from a requestor including all of the information required
on the adopted form shall suffice in place of a completed form as
a valid government record request.

I HAVE NOT been convicted of any indictable offense under the laws
of New Jersey, any other state, or the United States.
I WILL NOT use the requested government records for a commercial
purpose.
I AM NOT seeking records in connection with a legal proceeding.

RESPONSE:

Applicant: Old Bridge Watchdog
Information Requested: Records requested:
Please provide us with all compensation that ALL department heads
receive including but not limited to base pay and stipends from
1-1-24 to present. For any employee that receives a stipend, a
description of what the stipend is for. This request is to include
the Mayor and Business Administrator.

Please provide us with all compensation that ALL department heads
receive.

THE ABOVE OPRA REQUEST IS NOT SPECIFIC AND THEREFORE INVALID FOR
THE FOLLOWING REASONS:

1. OPRA is not intended as a research tool litigants may use to
force government officials to identify and siphon useful
information. Under OPRA, agencies are required to disclose only
"identifiable" governmental documents not otherwise exempt.
Wholesale requests for general information which have to be
collated, analyzed and compiled by the entity are not required.
This governmental custodian is not required to conduct research,
analyze, collate, compile and/or correlate data from existing
government records.
A blanket request for all documents is not a document request
pursuant to OPRA and existing case law. MAG Entm't, LLC v. Div of
ABC, 375 N.J. Super. 534,546-549 (App. Div. 2005), "under OPRA,
agencies are required to disclose only 'identifiable' government
records and not otherwise exempt..
In short, OPRA does not countenance open-ended searches of
agency's files" Id. (emphasis added). Bent v. Stafford Police
Dep't. 381 N.J. Super. 30,37 (App. Div. 2005), N.J. Builders Ass'n
v. N.J. Council on Affordable Hous., 390 N.J. Super. 166, 180
(App. Div. 2007); Schuler v. Borough of Bloomsbury, GRC Complaint
No. 2007-151 (February 2009).

2. A request for a "file" "all" "any and all" etc. is invalid
because it represents a blanket request for a class of various,
unidentifiable records and constitutes a broad and unclear
request. See Morgano v Essex Cnty. Prosecutors's Office, GRC
Complaint No. 2007-190 (February 2008); Nunley v N.J. State Parole
Bd., GRC Complaint No. 2013 -335 (July 2014); Redden v. Cape May
Cnty. Prosecutor's Office GRC Complaint No. 2007-206 (September
2009); Bragg v. N.J. Dept of Corrections, GRC Complaint No.
2010-145 (March2011); Bradley-Williams v. Atlantic Cnty. Jail, GRC
Complaint No. 2011-232 (December 2012); Torian v. N.J. State
Parole Bd., GRC Complaint No. 2013-245 (June 2014)

Not limited to base pay and stipends from 1-1-24 to present. For
any employee that receives a stipend, a description of what the
stipend is for. This request is to include the Mayor and Business
Administrator.

Please see attached record.

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 Old
Bridge 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.
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