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Public-records requests are 'through the roof' in Jersey City

By Terrence T. McDonald/The Jersey Journal
May 02, 2014 at 2:46 PM

Jersey City is seeing an explosion in the number of public-records requests filed with the City Clerk?s office, and city officials are scrambling to answer them all.

Since 2006, there has been an 80 percent increase in Open Public Records Act (OPRA) requests, with 607 requests in 2006 and 1,095 last year, according to the clerk?s office.

Four months into 2014, there have already been 426 requests. Corporation Counsel Jeremy Farrell, whose office handles the more complicated inquiries, said the numbers are ?through the roof,? and told the City Council last month that his office may need more help to answer them all.

City Clerk Robert Byrne thinks the improving economy is partly to blame for the increase. Byrne said his office, which assigns three staffers to work on OPRA requests, is seeing more inquiries for information on properties for sale.

But it may come down to curiosity about local government, he said.

?A lot more people are interested in what?s going on and OPRA is a tool to find out what?s going on,? Byrne told The Jersey Journal.

OPRA was enacted in 2001 by the state Legislature, replacing the old Right to Know Law. It provides guidance on what records should be excluded from public view, and it requires that municipalities hand over public documents no later than seven days after they are requested.

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