Requests For Public Info Slowing Down Government

Manchester Town Hall (Photo by Micromedia Publications)

  MANCHESTER – During her staff report to the mayor, council and public, Township Clerk Sabina Martin vented her frustration about an increased load of Open Public Record Act requests, (OPRA) which has slowed things down for her and her staff.

  “We have always been, I feel, as Manchester Township, very transparent with our residents and we have been very cooperative with the public over the years. I have in my 26 years in being with Manchester Township have seen a progression of people who use OPRA as a mechanism to gather information for their own purposes which is fine,” Martin said.

  She added, “there are people who gather information from the town so they become more informed and I think that is wonderful and then there are people who I feel do this as a tool to spite the government. Over the years, and more recently, it’s something I feel is happening more and more often.”

  Martin said she finds misuse of OPRA requests “offensive that my tax paying residents are forced to pay the price of people who are using it as a tool when there are a group of individuals who have cost the taxpayers, tens of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money to use it for their personal benefit.”

  “Some of it is used to just stop government from functioning because they can,” Martin added. She noted instances of three or four OPRA requests being made in a day, several in a week and some made on the weekend. She also said despite the requests some people “never pick up the information. I’m not mentioning names – this is just generalities.”

  Recently, there has been a push by clerks in towns across the state to increase the costs that they can bill people who make requests. Staff are being paid to do the work being requested by someone, so the belief is that person should have to shoulder more of it.

  “I think it behooves us to at some point to contact our legislators to tighten up on some of the regulations involving OPRA. I agree it is very important to have that transparency but there is a point where it starts shutting your government down and costing the taxpayer tens of thousands of dollars is ludicrous,” Martin added.

  She added, “it is used as a tool for litigation against the town which costs taxpayer money for defense. We haven’t lost an OPRA case yet but it is costing you money in the process and they aren’t even township residents. I think it is really insulting to the residents that this is happening. It bothered me enough that I felt I should bring it up to the public.”