Moorestown Ethics Board to Approve Minutes That Are Focal Point of Open Records Lawsuit

Moorestown, NJ -- Minutes that are the subject of a lawsuit by open records activist John Paff are set to be approved during the next meeting of the Moorestown Ethical Standards Board.

The board will meet on Wednesday, March 9, 6 p.m. in the Donut Room at Town Hall, the township announced on Monday.

The board is set to approve minutes from its October, 2012 and October, 2015 meetings.

It will also set the meeting schedule for 2016.

Paff has filed a lawsuit against Moorestown, claiming the municipality violated the state’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA) in denying him minutes from the 2012 meeting.

In the lawsuit, posted on Paff's NJ Open Government Notes blog, Paff claims he filed an OPRA request on Dec. 28, 2015, for minutes, agendas and notices for all Moorestown Ethical Standards Board meetings in October of 2012.

Two days later, the township filled Paff’s request for agendas and notices, but denied his request for minutes because they had not yet been approved.

Paff argues that instead of denying the minutes, Moorestown could’ve provided a copy of unapproved minutes labeled “draft minutes.”

Paff, who has argued for tighter ethics laws for local officials, argues there is no way to determine what happened at the meeting without those minutes.

The lawsuit argues that the Government Records Council (GRC) egregiously erred in its ruling in the 2006 case of Parave-Fogg v. Lower Alloways Creek Township that public meeting minutes remain exempt as "inter-agency, intra-agency advisory, consultative, or deliberative material" until they are approved by the public body.

He argues that public meeting minutes are not "deliberative" because they do not contain pre-decisional opinions, recommendations or advice about Township operations. Instead, they are a summary of public discussion, meaning they can’t be logically privileged.