Jefferson officials said last week that they weren't hiding anything. In fact, it appears that they handled the accident involving the police officer soon after it came up early last year. It also appears that the accident was not such a big deal, with the police officer saying he didn't know he hit a light pole before driving away. That might have been the end of the story -- except for the delay in releasing documents.

Paff said he had no idea what he would find when he submitted his first request to Jefferson under the state's Open Public Records Act, known as OPRA, on July 3, 2006. He has made similar requests in dozens of municipalities around the state over the past three years as the open government advocate for the New Jersey Libertarian Party. He poked around the Jefferson Web site, reading council minutes. looking for closed-session council discussions.

He said he picked three at random.

Lydia Magnotti, the township clerk, sent him a notice saying the council had not yet voted to release any of the closed-session minutes for public inspection. Paff said that the township didn't have to approve the minutes for at least the parts of them to be made public.

He filed a complaint with the state Government Records Council, known as the GRC, which oversees the implementation of OPRA. That led to mediation and settlement in October, when township officials agreed to release the minutes, The agreement allowed officials to black out items that OPRA permits to be kept private, such as certain personnel matters. State records show that Paff reached a similar agreement with Chester Townhip.

Paff. who lives in Somerset County, waited until May to request the Jefferson council minutes. The records he received include a reference to a personnel matter during a March 1, 2006 closed session. Mayor Russell Felter told the

council, according to the minutes, about a police officer who back into a light post at the Milton Inn. knocking it down, and who failed to report the accident. Felter said a summons would be issued to the officer, that he would receive "some suspension time."

One item was blacked out - the officer's name.

Missing name

"I don't think the Jefferson Township Police would be worried about my name being in the newspaper, " Paff said.

Lt. John Ottina, the officer t in the accident, said last week that he wasn't aware that his name had come up during a council meeting. He described the Feb. 18, 2006. accident, saying he thought he hit a curb when he backed up in the Milton Inn parking lot. He said the light pole didn't come down until later.

Ottina received a summons for failing to report an accident and paid an $89 fine, according to court records. Had this made public a year ago, it probably would have been a small story and forgotten by now.

But the story no longer is about a minor accident.

It's about how public officials go about letting the public know what they're doing.

Paff asked for the name of the police officer, and Magnotti sent him a letter on May 29, saying the information he wanted isn't public because "it relates to a potential criminal investigatory matter and (a) personnel investigation."

Magnotti said last week that while she signed the letter, she didn't come up with those reasons. She said she consulted Vex, the township attorney. Vex said last week that he doesn't know why the letter mentioned a "criminal investigation." It wasn't a criminal matter.

Ottina received a motor vehicle summons. Any related investigation ended a long time ago -- which means documents related to the investigation should be public. And while township officials argued that personnel matters are private, Ottina's name was available all along on the summons, which no one disputes is a public record.

So what was the big deal about releasing Ottina's name with the council minutes?

Paff threatened a lawsuit, writing a draft copy and sending it to the township. He said citizens have a right to know more about what happened, to determine whether the police officer had been shown favoritism following the accident. He wanted to know more about the investigation. He said a statute of limitations might apply to his proposed suit, so he needed a quick answer to his request for more records. He told township officials in June that he planned to file court papers by mid-July. He said last week that government officials always seem more responsive when he starts talking about lawsuits,

"We did some additional research and it appeared that we were required to turn the name over," Vex said.

Earlier this month, Paff received an unredacted version of closed session minutes from last year's council meeting. He said he might pursue some records he requested but didn't receive -- an internal police investigation and documents showing how Ottina was disciplined. Vex maintains that those records are protected as private under OPRA. Paff says the public has a right to see them. But if there's still a dispute over some records, there's no longer a dispute over the closed-session minutes. The township, Vex said, has changed some its procedures.

So maybe anyone requesting similar records in Jefferson won't have to wait a year.

Abbott Koloff can be reached at (973) 989-0652, ext 223 or akoloff(at)gannett.com.

PHOTO OF PAFF - CAPTION

It only took John Paff a year - not to mention a complaint to state officials and the threat of a lawsuit - to get the records he wanted from Jefferson. "They made this into a larger thing than it needed to be," Paff said.