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RIGHT-TO-KNOW POLICY FOR
PUBLIC RECORDS I.
Introduction 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 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 Procedures 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
Michael McGann, Manager, to act as the Open-Records Officer (“Officer”). The Officer’s contact information is set
forth below:
Mr,
Michael McGann Manager Lower
Perkiomen Valley Regional Sewer Authority 101
Station Avenue, P. O. Box 297 Oaks,
PA 19456 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
http://lpvrsa.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 costs of mail), 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 government 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 days 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 an 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 No.
2009-02, 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 supersede 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. June 11, 2009
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