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General Information: Access to public records in the Township shall be governed by Pennsylvania Act 3 of 2008, approved on February
14, 2008, effective January 1, 2009, codified at 53 P.S. 66.1 et. seq. (the "Law").
Accessible and Inaccessible Public Records: Records in the possession of the Township are presumed to be public, unless a record is
(1) exempt under the Law, (2) privileged, (3) exempt from disclosure under State or Federal law or (4) exempt by judicial order or decree.
Procedure for Access to Township's Public Records:
1. Form and Content of Request: All requests for a public record shall
be submitted to the Township's open-records officer on the Office of
Open Records Uniform Request Form, which will be available at the
Township administrative building, online at the Township's website or
by mail addressed to the Township's open-records officer as follow
West Goshen Township; Attn. Open Records Officer; 1025 Paoli
Pike, West Chester, Pennsylvania 19380. Requests may be made
in person, by mail, facsimile or email. However, the requester must
describe the record with enough specificity on the Form that the
Township can identify the requested record.
2. Fees for Production of Public Records:
a. The Board of Supervisors may establish a fee schedule for the
duplication and production of public records by resolution.
The duplication fee shall be paid for by the requester in
advance of receipt of the duplicates of the public records.
The fees are based upon the duplication of records maintained
and duplicated on standard 8½ by 11 inch paper. All larger
records, including but not limited to plans, maps and similar
documents are "over-sized records" for purposes of the fee
schedule and may be subject to a higher fee.
b. When the Township estimates that the fees for retrieval,
inspection and duplication will exceed One Hundred
($100.00) Dollars, the requestor shall prepay the
estimated fees before the Township is obligated to respond
to any request for public records.
3. Inspection and Duplication. Records shall be available for public
access only during the Township's normal business hours of 7:00 am-
5:00 pm, Monday through Thursday. The original of the requested
record(s) may be inspected in the Township's administrative office,
but in no event shall the original record be permitted to be removed
from the Township's possession. Upon request, a duplicate copy of
the record will be provided, but only in the form in which it exists.
Public records maintained only electronically or in other non-paper
media will be duplicated by the Township on paper for purposes of
both inspection and duplication.
4. Duplication Format. The Township is not required and will not create,
compile or organize a public record which does not currently exist,
and such records will be available only in the format maintained by
the Township.
5. Redaction. The Township may deny access to and/or redact from the
requested record before public inspection and/or duplication any
part of the requested record that constitutes inaccessible information.
6. Township's Response Time.
a. Except as stated in paragraph (b), the Township will have five
(5) business days from the date on which the written request
is received to respond to the request by providing the right of
inspection and/or duplication. No record will be supplied
unless the requester has paid the required fee in advance.
b. If the request implicates any of the following issues, the
Township shall have up to thirty (30) days to respond to the
request by providing the right of inspection and/or duplication:
i. The request requires redaction of a public record;
ii. The requested record(s) is/are stored at a
remote location;
iii. Staffing limitations preclude response within five
(5) business days;
iv. Legal review is required to determine whether
the requested record constitutes an accessible
public record;
v. The requester has not complied with the Township's
procedure for accessing public records;
vi. The extent or nature of the request precludes
a response within five (5) business days; and/or
vii. The requester has failed and/or refused to pay the
designated fee for accessing the requested public
record.
However, the Township shall, within five (5) business days of receipt of such request, send written notice to the requester stating that the
Township's response will be delayed, the reason for the delay, the anticipated date by which the requested public record will be supplied and an estimate of applicable fees. Unless the requester
agrees to an additional extension beyond the initial thirty-day period, the request shall be deemed denied if the record is not provided within the initial thirty-day period.
7. Appeals.
a. Filing Exceptions With the Board. When a request for a public
record is denied, the requester may file exceptions with the
Pennsylvania Office of Open Records (OOR) within fifteen
(15) days of the mailing of the Township's response, stating
the basis on which the requester believes the requested
records are a public record. Records not produced within the
applicable time limits shall result in a deemed denial, which
may also be appealed within the fifteen-day time limit. The
OOR will make a determination of the exceptions within thirty
(30) days of receipt of the appeal or the appeal shall be
deemed denied.
Appeal to Court. The requester may appeal to the Court of Common Pleas in Chester County within thirty (30) days of the mailing of a
final determination by an OOR appeals officer.
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