MDJ Records - Administrative Order
In the Court of Common Pleas of Beaver County, Pennsylvania
IN RE: :
PROCEDURES TO GOVERN : Administrative Docket
PUBLIC ACCESS TO THE RECORDS : No. _________of 2010
OF THE MAGISTERIAL DISTRICT :
COURTS WITHIN THE 36TH JUDICIAL :
DISTRICT :
ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER
McBride, P.J. September 15, 2010
AND NOW, this 15th day of September, 2010, pursuant to the Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania: Official Case Records of the Magisterial District Courts adopted by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court effective July 1, 2010, it is hereby Ordered and Directed that the following procedures shall be utilized to govern public access to the records of the Magisterial District Courts within the 36th Judicial District.
A. FEES: Fee Schedule for Responding to Public Access Requests
The following fees shall be charged to the public in response to requests for public access to the official case records of the Magisterial District Courts:
(1) Photocopying/printing: $.25/page
(2) Retrieval/Redaction: $7.00/15 minutes. No fee shall be charged for the initial 15 minutes of staff time required to respond to a public access request.
(3) CD: $5.00 each
(4) Postage: Actual cost
(5) Court Records Manager may require a requestor to prepay an estimate of the fees associated with the request, if the fees are expected to exceed $100.
(6) Arrangements may be made for approved requests to be viewed by appointment at no charge.
(7) Fees under this paragraph may be waived by either the Court Records Manager or the Magisterial District Judge if it is determined that the requestor is indigent.
B. Public Access Request Procedures
(1) A request for access to official case records of the Magisterial District Courts may be made to either the Magisterial District Court from which the record is sought or from the Court Records Manager.
Any written request, regardless if submitted to a Magisterial District Court or to the Court Records Manager, shall be submitted on an AOPC Request Form. The form is available in any Magisterial District Court or may be downloaded from the Beaver County Courts Home Page.
If a request is submitted directly to a Magisterial District Court, that court shall notify the Court Records Manager to ensure a timely and efficient response to the request.
(2) The requestor, within fifteen (15) business days of notification of the decision, may appeal a denial to the President Judge, Beaver County Courthouse, 810 Third Street, Beaver, PA 15009.
The Court Administrator of Beaver County shall file or distribute copies of this Administrative Order as follows:
1. One (1) certified copy shall be filed with the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.
2. Two (2) certified copies and a computer diskette that complies with the requirements of 1 Pa. Code § 13.11(b) shall be distributed to the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
3. One (1) certified shall be kept continuously available for public inspection and copying in the office of each Magisterial District Court.
This Administrative Order shall be effective thirty (30) days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
BY THE COURT:Honorable John D. McBride, P.J.