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TELFORD BOROUGH AUTHORITY
RIGHT-TO-KNOW POLICY FOR PUBLIC RECORDS
I. Introduction
The Telford Borough Authority (“Authority”) is a body corporate and politic, duly organized under the “Municipality Authorities Act,” Act 2001, June 19, P.L. 287, No. 22, § 4, 53 Pa. C.S.A. § 5601 et seq. As such, the Authority is a local agency for purposes of the new Right-to-Know Law.
All local agencies shall provide public records in accordance with
the Right-to-Know Law. Therefore, any record in the possession of the
Authority shall be presumed to be a public record, except in the
following circumstances:
(a) The record is exempt under section 708 of the Right-to-Know Law;
(b) The record is protected by the attorney-work product doctrine,
the attorney-client privilege, or other privilege recognized by the
laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (i.e., statute or case law); or
(c) The record is exempt from disclosure under any other federal or state law or regulation, or judicial order or decree.
Records are broadly defined under the Right-to-Know Law. The term
includes a document, paper, letter, map, book, tape, photograph, film
or sound recording, information stored or maintained electronically,
and a data-processed or image-processed document.
Requests for public records can be made by any person or who is a legal
resident of the United States, including resident aliens. Requests to
the Authority can also be made by other local agencies, Commonwealth
agencies (e.g., The Department of the Auditor General or the Treasury
Department), judicial agencies (i.e., the courts), or legislative
agencies (e.g., the Senate and House of Representatives).
II. Access and Procedure
Requesters may make oral requests for access to records. However, if
the requester wishes to pursue the relief and remedies provided for in
the Right-to-Know Law, the request for access to records must be a
written request. A written request for access to records may be
submitted in person, by mail, by e-mail, or by facsimile.
The Authority has designated Mark D. Fournier to act as the
Open-Records Officer (“Officer”). The Officer’s contact information is
set forth below:
Mark D. Fournier, Open Records Officer
Telford Municipal Building
122 Penn Avenue
Telford PA 18969-1912
Phone 215-723-5000
Fax 215-723-5328
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Questions regarding this policy may be directed to the Officer at the telephone or e-mail address listed above.
All written requests must be addressed to the Officer. In the event
that a written request for records is addressed to an Authority
employee other than the Officer, the Authority employee is hereby
directed to promptly forward such requests to the Officer.
Written requests should identify or describe the record sought with
sufficient specificity to enable the Authority to ascertain which
records are being requested. Unless otherwise required by law, a
written request need not include any explanation of the requester’s
reason for requesting the records or the intended use of such records.
A form which may be used to file a request is posted on the Authority’s
internet website at www.telfordboroughauthority.org. The Authority
shall assign a tracking number to each filed form so as to track the
Authority’s progress in responding to requests under the new
Right-to-Know Law.
Prior to granting a request for access in accordance with the
Right-to-Know Law, the Authority may require a requester to prepay an
estimate of the fees authorized by law if the fees required to fulfill
the request are expected to exceed $100.00. The fees must be
reasonable and based on prevailing fees for comparable duplication
services provided by local business entities. Except as otherwise
provided by statute, no other fees may be imposed unless the agency
necessarily incurs costs for complying with the request, and such fees
must be reasonable.
In all circumstances, the requester must agree to pay applicable fees
authorized by the new Right-to-Know Law, such as (but not limited to)
postage (not to exceed actual cost of mailing), duplication and
certification. All applicable fees shall be paid before a requester
receives access to the record(s) requested.
A record being provided to a requester shall be provided in the
medium requested if it exists in that medium; otherwise, it shall be
provided in the medium in which it exists. In other words, the
Authority shall not be required to create a record which does not
currently exist or to otherwise compile, maintain, format or organize a
record in a manner in which it does not currently compile, maintain,
format or organize such record. The Authority may impose reasonable
fees for official certification of copies if the certification is at
the behest of the requester and for the purpose of legally verifying
the public record.
Upon receipt of a written request for a public record, the Officer shall do the following:
(a) Note the date of the receipt on the written request;
(b) Compute the day on which the five-day period (see discussion of
response, below) will expire, and make a notation of that date on the
written request; and
(c) Create a file for the retention of the original request, a copy
of the response, a record of written communications with the requester,
and a copy of other communications.
III. Authority’s Response
Upon receipt of a written request for access to a record, the
Authority shall make a good faith effort to determine if the record
requested is a public record and whether the Authority has possession,
custody or control of the identified record. When doing so, the
Authority will respond as promptly as possible under the circumstances
existing at the time of the request. Under the Right-to-Know Law, the
Authority must send a response within five (5) business days of receipt
of the written request for access, or else the written request shall be
deemed denied. For purposes of this policy, a business day is any
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, except those days when
the Authority’s office is closed for all or part of a day due to a
holiday.
Upon receipt of a written request for access, the Officer shall determine if one of the following applies:
(a) The request for access requires redaction of a record in accordance with the Right-to-Know Law;
(b) The request for access requires the retrieval of a record stored in a remote location;
(c) A timely response to the request for access can not be accomplished due to bonified and specified staffing limitations;
(d) A legal review is necessary to determine whether the record is a record subject to access under the Right-to-Know Law;
(e) The requester has not complied with the Authority’s policies regarding access to records;
(f) The requester refuses to pay applicable fees authorized by the Right-to-Know Law; or
(g) The extent or nature of the request precludes a response within the required time period of five (5) business days.
Upon a determination that one of the factors listed above applies,
the Officer shall send written notice to the requester within five (5)
business days of receipt of the request for access. The notice shall
include a statement notifying the requester that the request for access
is being reviewed, the reason for the review, a reasonable date that a
response is expected to be provided, and an estimate of applicable fees
owed when the record becomes available. Information which the
Authority redacts in accordance with the Right-to-Know Law shall be
deemed a denial.
If the date that a response is expected to be provided is in excess
of thirty (30) calendar days, following the five (5) business days
allowed for above, the request for access shall be deemed denied unless
the requester has agreed in writing to an extension to the date
specified in the notice. If the requester agrees to the extension, the
request shall be deemed denied on the day following the date specified
in the notice if the Authority has not provided a response by that date.
For purposes of this policy, the “mailing date” shall be the date
affixed to a: (1) response from the Officer to a request, which is to
be the date the response is deposited in the U.S. mail; (2) final
determination from the Officer, which is to be the date the final
determination is deposited in the U.S. mail.
IV. Appeal of Authority’s Determination
If a written request for access to a record is denied or deemed
denied, the requester may file an appeal with the Office of Open
Records within fifteen (15) business days of the mailing date of the
Authority’s response or within fifteen (15) business day of a deemed
denial. The appeal shall state the grounds upon which the requester
asserts that the record is a public record, and shall address any
grounds stated by the Authority for delaying or denying the request.
The Office of Open Records has established a internet website with
information relating to the Right-to-Know Law, including information on
fees, advisory opinions and decisions, plus the name and address of all
Open-Records Officers in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. For
information on the Office of Open Records, please go to
openrecords.state.pa.us. (Please note: among other matters, the Office
of Open Records shall establish fees for duplication by photocopying,
printing from electronic media or microfilm, copying onto electronic
media, and other means of duplication.)
V. Retention of Records
By adoption of Resolution December 18, 2008, the Authority publicly
declared its intention to follow the Municipal Records Act, 53 Pa.
C.S.A. § 1381 et seq., with respect to the retention and disposition of
public records. Nothing in the Right-to-Know Law shall be construed to
modify, rescind or supercede the Authority’s lawfully adopted record
retention and disposition policy. Moreover, nothing in the
Right-to-Know Law shall be construed to require access to any computer
of the Authority, or that of an individual or employee of the
Authority.
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