Your Right to Know: Public Records Seminar for Citizens to Be Held Saturday

What government and school information do you have the right to review and what is the best way to get it? What do you do if a government agency rejects your request but you are confident you have a right to the information you are seeking? When are you allowed to find out what happened in a closed session of your local governing body?

These questions and more will be answered this Saturday morning at a workshop hosted by Planet Princeton, the Citizen’s Campaign and the Princeton Public Library.

Lawyer Walter Luers, and expert in the state’s Open Public Records Act (OPRA) and the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA), more commonly known as the Sunshine Law, will review your rights and answer your questions about public records and public meetings.

The seminar is being offered in response to residents’ questions in recent months about how to obtain public records and about closed session meetings. Several issues have arisen in Princeton regarding when officials can meet behind closed doors, what constitutes a meeting, and what to do if your request for records is turned down.

Luers is a top expert in the state on public records access. He is the head of the New Jersey Foundation for Open Government, and in his law practice he has successfully represented many residents, organizations and corporations in cases related to public records. Luers graduated from Rutgers University in 1996, and earned his law degree from Fordham University in 1999. He speaks to community groups around the State about OPMA and OPRA. In 2010 he was recognized as one of ten “Lawyers of the Year” by the New Jersey Law Journal for his work on  OPRA.

The seminar is free and open to the public. It will be held in the community room at the Princeton Public Library beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday. Don’t worry, we know it is early for a Saturday, but coffee will be provided!

Avatar of Krystal Knapp

Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.