WikiFOIA

New Jersey local news briefs

(Posted October 27, 2007)

On August 24, 2007, after learning that the Ewing Township (Mercer County) Board of Education uses an all too typically vague form of closed session resolution (i.e. "to discuss Minutes, Personnel Items, Residency, Legal Matters and Contracts"), I filed a complaint against the Board with the New Jersey Department of Education's Office of Fiscal Accountability and Compliance.

I decided to file administratively with the Department of Education instead of with the Superior Court because had the Department ruled in my favor, such would establish, in effect, a statewide precedent and it would be relatively easy to get every school district in New Jersey to fall into line. 

Unfortunately, the Department, relying on two Law Division cases from 1977, ruled a) that Ewing's form of resolution complied with the Sen. Byron M. Baer Open Public Meetings Act.  My complaint and the Department's response is on-line at

www.lpcnj.org/OGTF/EwingBOE.pdf

The Department's holding conflicts with the ruling I received earlier this year from Middlesex County Judge Alexander Waugh in my case against the Monroe Township Board of Education.  In that case, Judge Waugh held that

 

Judge Carchman’s decision [in Council of New Jersey State College Locals v. Trenton State College, 284 N.J. Super. 108 (Law Div. 1995)] clearly articulates the public policy behind the Act, i.e., that closed session resolutions should contain as much information as is

consistent with full public knowledge without doing any harm to the public interest.

Unfortunately, an Appellate Division decision on this issue is needed in order to establish a statewide precedent.  I cannot sue Ewing, however, because they "agreed" to change the form of their closed session resolutions even though neither they nor the Department acknowledges that the complained of resolutions were improper.

The Washington Township Council met with several health insurance brokers in closed session to listen to the brokers' sales presentations. It appears that after each presentation, the broker left the closed meeting and the Council discussed that broker's presentation and compared it with those received from other brokers.

I do not dispute that the parts of these closed sessions which took place in the broker's absence were within the Senator Byron M. Baer Open Public Meetings Act's (OPMA) "contract negotiation" exception. I contend, however, that the Council violated the OPMA by privately receiving presentations from the brokers.

In a September 20, 2007 article in the Messenger-Press the Township Attorney maintains that private, sequential meetings between each broker and the Council were necessary and proper. Had the meetings been public, he argues, other health insurance brokers, hearing the present broker's presentation, would gain an unfair advantage over that broker. He likened the Council meeting with brokers in secret to having those brokers submit sealed bids for the Township's insurance business.

Exhibits 12 and 13 of my lawsuit are the unredacted minutes of the Council's October 26, 2006 closed meeting. It appears that Mr. Di Bella, the broker, wasn't "negotiating" a contract as much as he was giving a presentation. Indeed, the Township Attorney advised the Council "not to say anything" in Mr. Di Bella's presence.

The OPMA, N.J.S.A. 10:4-12(b), contains nine exceptions that allow the Council to meet in private. And the OPMA instructs, and the courts have held, that those exceptions be interpreted narrowly to promote open government. (The full text of OPMA can be found here ) None of those nine exceptions, however, permit a public body to meet in private to receive presentations from a prospective contractor.

I understand the Township Attorney's argument that the public interest would be better served if the Council could privately receive presentations from contractors. This argument, however, should be addressed to the Legislature and not the courts. At present, we must presume that the Legislature considered including a "receiving of presentations and bids" exception within the OPMA but decided that the right of the public to hear those presentations outweighed any interest that the contractors, or the public body, might have in keeping the presentations confidential.

2001 Orders by Monmouth County Assignment Judge set 30 day period for production of closed minutes

(Posted August 27, 2007)

Now available on the Internet are January 8, 2001 and March 2, 2001 Orders entered by Monmouth County Superior Court Assignment Judge Lawrence M. Lawson requiring the Middletown Township Committee to make the notes or minutes of its executive session meetings available to "any member of the public within 30 days from the date of the meeting." The orders are on-line at Monmouth OPMA Orders

The orders arose out the same case that resulted in a published Appellate Division decision, Loigman v. Township Committee of Tp. of Middletown 308 N.J.Super. 500 (App. Div. 1998)

Open Public Meetings and Records Act suit filed against Keyport Borough

(Posted August 2, 2007)

The filed lawsuit is available online at:

Keyport Lawsuit (1.5 MB)

Medford settles Open Public Meetings Act lawsuit

(Posted August 1, 2007)

Medford Township (Burlington County, New Jersey) has agreed to sign a Consent Order, to be filed with the Superior Court, that requires it, going forward, to "continue to state the subject matter for Executive Session, and disclose as much information as possible about the topics that will be discussed byTownship Council in Executive Session without undermining the N.J.S.A.10:4-12(b) exceptions authorizing the private meeting." The Township, while not admitting that it was wrong, also agreed to reimburse Plaintiff John Paff his court filing fees."

Medford lawsuit

Open Public Meetings Act suit filed against Medford Township

(Posted July 9, 2007)

Township, after threat of open public records suit, agrees to identify cop who was involved in hit and run accident

(Posted July 3, 2007)

Media Advisory by the New Jersey Libertarian Party

www.njlp.org

JEFFERSON TWP AGREES TO IDENTIFY HIT-AND-RUN COP

LAKE HOPATCONG ­ After being threatened with a lawsuit by John Paff, the Open Government Advocate for the New Jersey Libertarian Party (NJLP), Jefferson Township municipal attorney Howard A. Vex has agreed to release records identifying a township employee—most likely an off-duty police officer—who sometime before March 2006 backed into and knocked over a light post at the Milton Inn but failed to report the accident. The officer/employee, who will be named shortly, was apparently disciplined, given a summons and required to make restitution.

The matter arose after Paff, who routinely audits municipalities’ compliance with the Open Public Records Act and Open Public Meetings Act, received minutes from Jefferson Township Council’s March 1, 2006 executive session (i.e. nonpublic) meeting. The minutes revealed that the officer/employee was involved in the hit and run accident, but his name was redacted (i.e. blacked out). After his May 23, 2007 request for unredacted minutes was denied, Paff sent Township Clerk Lydia Magnotti a civil lawsuit and told her that he would file it with the court unless the Township produced minutes showing the officer/employee’s name. On July 2, 2007, Magnotti informed Paff that Vex authorized release of the unredacted minutes, and that they will be sent after Paff pays a 75c copying fee. (The lawsuit and all relevant correspondence are on-line at www.lpcnj.org/OGTF/Jefferson.pdf

“It’s troubling that it took a threat of a lawsuit to pry these records out of the township’s hands,” said Paff. “The public is entitled to information about public officials, including police officers, even if—perhaps especially if—the information might embarrass Township officials.”

NJLP chairman Lou Jasikoff wondered if Jefferson would have been so reluctant to provide the information had the hit-and-run accident been caused by a private citizen instead of a police officer. “If I had knocked over that light post and left the scene, it probably would have been reported in the next day’s paper,” he remarked.