O.P.R.A.

The position of Municipal Clerk is required by New Jersey law (N.J.S.A. 40A:9-133) to serve as the custodian of public records. The public can review and obtain copies of Township Committee meetings, ordinances, resolutions and other public records permitted by law at the Office of the Municipal Clerk located in the Municipal Building at 818 W. Lacey Road, Forked River.

Under the Open Public Records Act ("OPRA"), there is a charge for copies of public records that is set by State Statute (N.J.S.A. 47: 1A-2) and adopted by the Township [Amended 9-13-1984 by Ord. No. 47-84; 7-11-1996 by Ord. No. 96-36], and a requirement that requests be made in writing when requesting access to or copies of public records. A formal Request for Public Documents form is available to the public at the Municipal Clerk's Office or can be downloaded with the link below.

Fees are as outlined on the OPRA Form.

The fees for copies of official documents are as follows: 

Letter Size - 5 cents per sheet
Legal Size - 7 cents per sheet

NOTICE OF SPECIAL SERVICE CHARGE

OPRA allows public agencies to impose special service charges whenever the nature, format, manner of collation, or volume of a government record embodied in the form of printed matter to be inspected, examined, or copied pursuant to this section is such that the record cannot be reproduced by ordinary document copying equipment in ordinary business size or when fulfilling a request requires an extraordinary expenditure of time and effort.  See N.J.S.A. 47:1-A-5.c.  Special Service charges must be based upon the actual direct cost of providing the copy or copies.  

OPRA mandates that the requestor shall have the opportunity to review and object to the charge prior to it being incurred.  See N.JS.A. 47:1A-5.C.