In response to your OPRA --[OPRA #84810 email]

The Borough of Pompton Lakes records custodian received your Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) and common law request on December 31, 2025. The seven-business day deadline to respond to your Request is January 12, 2026. As such, the Borough is timely responding to your Request in accordance with New Jersey law.

Your Request seeks, copies of all transcripts of Captain Ryan Cichon’s 2025 hearings held in the Pompton Lakes municipal building.”

Please be advised that any potentially responsive hearing transcripts are exempt from disclosure as same constitute Captain Cichon’s “personnel records” within the meaning of N.J.S.A. 47:1A-10 and thus are shielded from public access. See McGee v. Twp. of East Amwell (Hunterdon), 416 N.J. Super. 602 (App. Div. 2010). None of the exceptions within N.J.S.A. 47:1A-10 that require certain personnel records to be made available for public access in particular circumstances are applicable to these transcripts. Accordingly, the Borough is legally precluded from producing the records that you are purportedly seeking.

Moreover, to the extent that you are purportedly seeking these records pursuant to the common law right of access, your Request is legally deficient. In O’Boyle v. Borough of Longport, 218 N.J. 168, 196 (2014), the Supreme Court of New Jersey held that the party requesting documents under the common law right of access must explain why he seeks access to the requested documents. See also Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC v. Twp. of Neptune, 254 N.J. 242 (2023) (holding that the person seeking access must establish an interest in the subject matter of the material). Here, your Request lacks any explanation with respect to your purported interest in accessing the hearing transcripts at issue.

Your Request is now deemed answered and closed.

Elizabeth Brandsness, RMC
Municipal Clerk / Deputy Administrator
Borough of Pompton Lakes
25 Lenox Avenue
Pompton Lakes, NJ 07442
973-835-0143 ext. 238

-----Original Message-----
From: Alexis Moore <[OPRA #84810 email]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2025 8:33 AM
To: Elizabeth Brandsness <[Pompton Lakes Borough request email]>
Subject: OPRA request - Transcripts of PD Captain Ryan Cichon’s hearings

[NOTICE: This message originated outside of Pompton Lakes Borough -- DO NOT CLICK on links or open attachments unless you are sure the content is safe.]

Dear Pompton Lakes Borough,

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.

Records requested:

Copies of all transcripts of Captain Ryan Cichon’s 2025 hearings held in the Pompton Lakes municipal building.

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.

Alexis Moore

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