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Belmar’s OPRA Cases In The Star

Made the front page, actually.  (Maybe that’s because the Coast Star was one of the plaintiffs.)

From the story:

Belmar loses OPRA cases

 The Borough of Belmar must make public several documents related to grants and gift cards given away post-Hurricane Sandy, the New Jersey Government Records Council [GRC] ordered late last week. A phone recording must also be released to a former Belmar employee, the GRC ruled.

The orders stem from several denial of access complaints recently filed against the borough………

………Councilman Bean sought information about who donated gift cards to the borough after Hurricane Sandy and who received those gift cards.

Some of the information Councilman Bean asked for in his initial OPRA request was provided, however, he did not receive the names and addresses of those who donated and those who received the gift cards………….

…………….The GRC ruled that the custodian, borough clerk April Claudio, failed to meet the burden of proof to show that disclosing the information requested would violate reasonable expectation of privacy, according to the Dec. 20 minutes from the GRC meeting.

As such, the custodian shall disclose the list of those who received the donations, as well as those who donated the gift cards, if such a list exists, according to the minutes.

“While the GRC is sympathetic to those affected by such a significant weather event, the persons accepting the gift cards of nominal value have limited privacy interest in the face of the public’s right to ensure that the gift cards were justly and fairly distributed,” according to the interim order for Councilman Bean’s case.

The order went on to say that “there is no evidence in the record that donor information, whether personal citizens, businesses, organizations, etc., are subject to the same type of privacy as aid recipients.”

As such, the custodian has five business days from receipt of the GRC’s interim order to disclose the information.

As of Tuesday, Councilman Bean said he had not yet received the information.

Councilman Bean said, “It’s a shame that the mayor didn’t follow the advice of the DCA [Department of Community Affairs] because he has single-handedly made these charity lists public information. All I ever asked for was accountability of these funds and I was denied. Now that I will receive this information I will ensure the public that all donations that came into this town will be checked to make sure they were legally and fairly distributed……..

And:

………The Coast Star sought the list naming each person who received funds from the borough’s grant program and how much they received.

The grant program was established in the wake of Hurricane Sandy to provide monetary assistance to families in need.

At the time The Coast Star submitted the OPRA request, which was in late February, the borough had raised $300,000 for its grant program — $150,000 through its hurricane relief fund and the same amount from the Robin Hood Foundation……………….

…………………….On Dec. 20, the GRC ruled that Belmar failed to meet the burden of proof showing that disclosing the information requested would violate reasonable expectation of privacy, according to the minutes of the meeting.

As such, the custodian has five business days from receipt of the GRC’s interim order to disclose the information, according to the interim order for The Coast Star’s case.

As of Tuesday, The Coast Star had not received the information.

When called for comment, Mayor Matt Doherty asked for a written promise from the editor of The Coast Star stating the paper would not disclose the names on the list. He said if he did not receive such a written statement, he would appeal the GRC ruling.

The Coast Star declined to provide such a statement.

“After the GRC’s ruling, we’re going to consult with counsel and see what steps we’ll take moving forward,” Mayor Doherty said………

My advice would be to find out what steps “counsel” says we should take………and then be like George Costanza and just do the opposite!

2 Comments

  1. Anonymous wrote:

    One needs to wonder when this attorney Dupont is going to stop acting like a political hack and start acting like a borough attorney who has the best interest of the town in mind when he offers advice

    Thursday, December 26, 2013 at 8:17 pm | Permalink
  2. joegoofinoff wrote:

    As such, the custodian shall disclose the list of those who received the donations, as well as those who donated the gift cards, if such a list exists, according to the minutes.
    ___________________________

    We’ll see the list of those who recieved the donations sometime around the time pigs fly.

    Friday, December 27, 2013 at 3:02 pm | Permalink

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