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WEST MILFORD - Council wrestles with e-mail policy
(by David M. Zimmer - Staff Writer - October 08, 2008)
WEST MILFORD - Personal e-mail accounts could become public record if local board members and other officials refuse to obtain and utilize an official township e-mail account for municipal business.
Consequently, the Township Council and Township Attorney Fred Semrau continue to develop an e-mail policy for employees as well as those holding elected or appointed positions in the municipality.
Since e-mail is subject to the Open Public Records Act (OPRA), personal computer and e-mail accounts can become public record if they contain documentation relating to official township business. For this reason, during the Oct. 1 council meeting Semrau recommended that all individuals affiliated with the township only use West Milford e-mail accounts to send and receive correspondence about municipal business. Even messages on a personal account are subject to OPRA.
If this cannot be done, he recommended that the policy eliminate the use of e-mail correspondence among township board members altogether to prevent personal hard drives from becoming public record. Semrau said that even meeting schedules and agendas should be distributed by hard copy, adding that if any e-mails are sent, they need to be sent by the respective board secretaries.
“So basically what we’re telling them is don’t e-mail any discussion about township business at all,” Councilman Philip Weisbecker said.
Semrau said these policy changes should not be too difficult to enact since the zoning, planning and environmental boards should not be discussing applications outside of the meetings anyway.
“Discussion needs to be done during meetings, not through e-mail,” Semrau said.
If any e-mail correspondence among board members is necessary, it would only be a one-way memo from the board secretary that would not require a response, Weisbecker said. As a result, he said creating an e-mail account for every board member would be a waste of money.
When the council asked about e-mail accounts, Zoning Board Vice President Dan Jurkovic, a council candidate, said the township should offer board members the option of having a West Milford e-mail account due to account fees. However, he added that the Zoning Board attorney would likely advise against having an e-mail account, since they are not permitted to have outside discussions about zoning applications.
Planning Board Chairman Andrew Gargano, also a council candidate, said occasionally, as the chairman, he needs to correspond with the board attorney before meetings. In these circumstances, going through the board secretary would waste time, Gargano said. As a result, Weisbecker recommended giving e-mail accounts only to the chairperson of each board to save money.
Most municipalities throughout the state are amending their e-mail policy due to OPRA, Semrau said. West Milford’s developing policy will be presented to the respective township boards for input later this month, the attorney said.
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