Closed session minutes delinquent or missing in Deerfield Twp.

UPDATE (6/20/2017):  Minutes from as far back as July 3, 2002 were up for approval at the June 7, 2017 meeting of the Deerfield Township Committee, per the agenda. “Denying the public access to meeting minutes for 15 years certainly does not satisfy the “promptly available” requirement of the Open Public Meetings Act, N.J.S.A. 10:4-14,” commented NJFOG treasurer John Paff.

 

Original post:

New Jersey’s Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA) requires that public bodies make the minutes of their meetings — for sessions both open and closed to onlookers — “promptly available to the public.” Further, meeting minutes are among the records subject to permanent retention. Recent correspondence with Deerfield Township in southern New Jersey reveals that minutes from closed meetings held five years ago are still not available for public inspection and that minutes from closed meetings held in the 80’s and 90’s are now lost.

 

NJ Open Government Notes
Township in Cumberland County “unable to locate” some closed meeting minutes; will approve years of other closed meeting minutes at June 7th meeting.
by John Paff
May 23, 2017