Chapter 181, RECORDS, PUBLIC

Text relating to Ilion laws has been copied from the pdf provided by the Village and pasted here. This was done to make the text searchable.

Chapter 181, RECORDS, PUBLIC

ARTICLE I, Public Access

§ 181-1. Statutory authority

The Board of Trustees of the Village of Ilion, New York, hereby promulgates this set of rules in accordance with Chapter 578 of the Laws of 1974.

§ 181-2. Records access officer

The Village Clerk is hereby designated as the records access officer of the Village of Ilion.

§ 181-3. Application and availability of records

A. Persons seeking public records shall make application to the records access officer upon the application form supplied by such officer, in the event that such records are not readily available.

B. Excluded from such available public records are all information specifically exempt by statute, confidential information that would give an unfair advantage to competitors, such information that would be an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy and any information that is part of a law enforcement investigation file.

C. The records access officer is hereby directed to make available to persons requesting records those public records which, by law, are required to be made available for public inspection and copying, generally during regular business hours. However, in the event that the request for public records interferes with the operation of the office of the Village Clerk and makes it difficult for members of the public to receive the regular services of the Clerk, the records access officer is hereby authorized to establish hours during each day when he shall process requests for records, including the times when such requests shall be made, in order to enable him to find the records for review and copying. The times so established by the records access officer shall be conspicuously posted in the office of the Village Clerk.

§ 181-4. Fee for copies.

The records access officer is authorized to copy any records which are within the purview of the law and to charge twenty-five cents ($0.25) per page. No records shall be reproduced until payment is first received.

§ 181-5. Removal of records prohibited

No records shall be removed from the lawful custody of any public office charged with the duty of maintaining such records.

§ 181-6. Unavailability of records

In the event that any requests cannot be met because such records are being used for current working purposes, the applicant shall be advised of such fact, and every effort will be made to arrange a specific time when such records will be available.

§ 181-7. Village Attorney to be consulted where confidentiality questions exist

In the event that a question arises as to the nature of the records in that public viewing of such records may result in an unwarranted invasion of a citizen's personal privacy or may result in a disclosure of material that must be confidential to promote effective law enforcement or for any other reason which, in the opinion of the records access officer, is valid to promote the public interest while consistent with the new law, the records access officer shall confer with the Village Attorney before determining if such records shall be made available for inspection.

§ 181-8. Access denials

In the event that any person is denied access to any public records in violation of the law, that person shall advise the Board of Trustees of such denial, in writing, and set forth the records requested, the reason for denial and the fact that the fees for such records were, in fact, tendered.

§ 181-9. Provisions to be temporary

These regulations shall be temporary and considered as such until the state guidelines are promulgated and until more comprehensive regulations can be prepared.

§ 181-10. Purpose

The purpose of such regulations shall be to maintain the spirit of the law and to recognize that the concept of open records is consistent with the purpose of this Board of Trustees.