Warren County started the new year with a new system for making public records available, including posting more commonly requested records online.

Changes include new online portals hosting the Warren County Health Department’s septic and well records, and another for submitting requests to the County under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act, commonly referred to as OPRA. Access to these portals and links to other information is available at www.warrencountynj.gov/government/public-information/requesting-government-records-opra.

“Warren County is committed to providing as much information online as possible. Uploading these documents and files eliminates archaic requests, reduces work on county staff and gives the public information they are entitled to,” Commissioner Director James R. Kern III said.

The Health Department’s public records portal contains all the department’s septic and well records searchable by Municipality, Address or Block & Lot, Warren County Health Officer Pete Summers explained, adding that the records are available for immediate review and download anytime.

“The new portal will reduce the delay in obtaining septic records for homeowners, engineers and realtors. Records that might have taken hours or even days to obtain are now available in minutes whenever they are needed by the public,” Summers noted.

“The public may be pleasantly surprised to learn there are a number of records readily accessible to them without filing an OPRA request,” said Holly Luberto of the Warren County Public Information Department, who took the lead on implementing the new OPRA request system for the County and updating the Public Records page on the website.

Public Land Records, such as deeds, liens, and more, were already available through a searchable index of Warren County property records online, and can be accessed through the updated Public Records page on the county website, as well as through the Warren County Clerk’s Office section of the website.

Some of the other commonly-sought records, including construction permits, Certificates of Occupancy, information on underground/above ground storage tanks, fire inspections, and vital records (birth, marriage and death certificates) are municipal, not county, records but the county page includes a link to find municipal contact information.

The new portal for filing an OPRA request allows requestors to upload documents with their request. It also generates an automatic acknowledgment to let the requestor know the request has been received.

If someone prefers to print out an OPRA request form, fill it out by hand and submit it on paper, the document is available online to download.