EDITORIAL / ANNE BARRON

Will Highland Park Council do the right thing?

Much of local environmentalism takes place at local zoning and planning board meetings. While local and state statutes are heavily loaded to favor the developer, concerned citizens have the opportunity to review plans, land use law and local ordinances to promote their cause.

Many residents, including members of SaveOpenSpace (SOS), have logged long hours at Planning and Zoning Board meetings taking notes, researching land use law, querying developers' applications, and pushing the Boards to consider other needs in addition to the basic zoning, traffic, construction, and finance considerations. (Until fairly recently, environmental concerns received little, if any, attention.)

Residents, as is their right, also asked for copies of these plans and minutes from meetings, in order to better argue their case. The Open Public Records Act of 2002 (OPRA 2002), the latest legislation to protect the public's basic right to know what its government is doing, became an important tool in our arsenal. It improved access to public records by establishing clear time limits for delivery of the requested public documents and the costs of reproducing them.

Unfortunately, Highland Park has been in defiance of at least one very clear provision of OPRA concerning reasonable copying costs. The Open Public Records Act of 2002 states that a public agency can charge "the cost of materials and supplies used . . . but shall not include the cost of labor or other overhead expenses associated with making the copy." The current borough copying fee schedule far exceeds that of the actual cost of copying.

In fact, the borough raised its copying fees immediately after enactment of OPRA, from 25 cents per page to a whopping 75 cents per page (the costs reduce somewhat after the first 10 pages).

This has created a financial burden on the residents who are entitled to participate in the public hearings of developer proposals. SOS has repeatedly alerted borough officials to the illegal over-charging. Working with New Jersey Foundation for Open Government (NJFOG), SOS brought in state officials from the Government Records Council to help the town improve its public records access.

Sadly, five years later, little has changed. I just spent over $30 to find documents related to the 'Y' proposal and recently enacted land use ordinances. Resident Rob Bowell, researching town records this summer for a school report, reached out to NJFOG about these high fees, who then referred him to me.

We turned again to NJFOG and Common Cause; they provided a draft ordinance for a five-cent copying fee for business-size copies. We e-mailed the mayor and council in early June, asking that the town implement a cost-of-copying fee system. We received no comment. After three months of silence, I asked again, and recently councilwoman Fern Goodhart responded, promising that the matter will be taken up in a late September agenda meeting.

By the time you read this, the Highland Park Borough Council will hopefully have accepted its responsibility to ensure that all residents have reasonable access to affordable copies of public documents.

Affordability is an essential aspect of the public right to know. Court decisions over the past two years have held government bodies responsible for overcharging on copies. Somerset County just had to set aside $400,000 to settle a lawsuit over their self-service copying fees. A state appellate court ruled against Burlington and Camden Counties in 2005, ordering them to reduce their copying fees to reflect the actual cost of copying. Plainfield and other muncipalities are facing similar lawsuits.

While some people may be able to afford the inflated costs, we know the diversity of Highland Park. Costs of copying should not prevent anyone from receiving copies of public records rightfully theirs. Nor should any government agency profit from providing residents with information about their government. The mayor and council must obey the law and bring our copying fee schedule into line with the actual costs of copying.

You can find out more about open government laws and your rights at www.njfog.org.

Addendum: According to the Laurel Kornfeld's Local Events listserv, the Highland Park Code can now be found online at http://www.generalcode.com/webcode2.html and our local codes downloaded. I wish the borough clerk had informed me about this invaluable service before I forked over the money for the copies. This site only contains the code; you must still request minutes and draft ordinances from the borough clerk. Ask for the OPRA request form.