1. Penn Township (“Township”) is a second class township, duly organized and being the governing body in Penn Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania, under the Second Class Township Code, 53 P.S. 65101 et seq. As such, the Township is a local agency for purposes of the new Right-to-Know Law.
2. All local agencies shall provide public records in accordance with the Right-to-Know Law, 53 P.S. § 1381 et seq. Therefore, any record in the possession of the Township shall be presumed to be a public record, except in the following circumstances:
A. The record is exempt under the Right-to-Know Law.
B. The record is protected by the attorney-work product doctrine, the attorney-client privilege, or other privilege recognized by a court interpreting the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
C. The record is exempt from disclosure under any other Federal or State law or regulation, or judicial order or decree.
3. Records are broadly defined under the Right-to-Know Law. The term includes a document, paper, letter, map, book, tape, photograph, film or sound recording, information stored or maintained electronically, and a data-processed or image-processed document.
4. Requests for public records can be made by any person who is a legal resident of the United States, including resident aliens. Requests to the Township can also be made by other local agencies, Commonwealth agencies (e.g., the Department of the Auditor General or the Treasury Department), judicial agencies (i.e., the courts), or legislative agencies (e.g., the Senate and House of Representatives).
(Res. 2008-04, 12/4/2008, § 1)