Ohio's open records law might change and government officials could be subject to mandatory training concerning the law if new legislation is passed. The House bill was prompted by a 2004 study by the Ohio Coalition for Open Government, which detailed open records law noncompliance across the state. The coalition is a tax-exempt group affiliated with the Ohio Newspaper Association, a lobbyist group.
Statewide, the (study) documented that only 52 percent of public records requests in public offices in all 88 counties of Ohio were properly fulfilled
Attorney General Jim Petro, who supports the legislation, said in a written statement.
That audit should not simply be considered an indictment of insensitive public officials he said in testimony given before the Ohio House Civil Justice and Commercial Law Committee in early March. My experience in the past two years as attorney general demonstrates that local officials do have a desire to comply with the law but lack the training to do so.
State Rep. Scott Oelslager, R-Canton, introduced legislation in January to clarify open records law and provide mandatory training for public officials. The bill is still being heard in the House.
Oelslager said that because public officials do get open records requests, they should not only have a clear understanding of the law, but they should also make sure that they transmit their knowledge of the law to those who work under them.
Petro's office has conducted free seminars for public officials and members of the public on the law, said Kim Norris, a Petro spokeswoman. Oelslager and Petro are not the only ones to propose training of public officials and their staff members on open records law. Similar training is already done in Athens.
Updates on open records law come directly to the Athens law director
said Debra Walker, clerk of council.
Garry Hunter, city law director, also conducts open records law training for new city council members during council's orientation in addition to training officials in other areas of city government, Walker said.
The Ohio Newspaper Association, which worked with the attorney general's office in drafting the bill, is in favor of state-mandated training.
(The 2004 audit) documents for us that a lot of local government employees are either confused about the law or ignorant about the details of the law. In several cases
they are erroneously putting up barriers to access
said Executive Director Frank Deaner. The more people know about the workings of the law
the better.
The bill would also require government offices to have open records policies on file, create sanctions for government noncompliance and classify infractions such as demanding that a requester disclose his or her name or why the record is needed.
Nationally, Ohio's open record statutes ranked above only four other states for their openness to the public, according to study results released March 13 by the Marion Brechner Center's Citizen Access Project at the University of Florida's College of Journalism and Communications.
Project Director Bill Chamberlain said Ohio's low ranking is due in part to the fact that the open records law tends to be more restrictive than expansive. Ohio has some of the worst procedures for filing and filling open records requests, according to the UF study.
Only Alabama, South Dakota and Alaska were ranked worse. Michigan and Indiana were ranked in the top ten. The study looked at how classified information was dealt with, copying, inspection and delivery of records, requester requirements, agency responsibilities to manage the records, request specifications and agency responsiveness.
Despite some overstepping of legal boundaries, Athens county officials are relatively prompt in filling open records requests, according to a recent study by The Post.
The Post found that the records of government entities in Athens County were readily available, although public employees often asked for requesters' names and why they wanted to see the records. Such questions are not required by Ohio law.
The type of the request often affected how quickly it was made available or if public employees asked questions. Records such as the minutes of the Athens County commissioners' meeting, Athens City Council meeting minutes and the Ohio University president's contract were available immediately with no questions.
Other records were not immediately available because of the type of record requested. The most recent minutes from the Ohio University Board of Trustees meeting had not been compiled at the time of the request. However, as soon as they had been finalized university officials made them available.
When making other requests at the Athens County Treasurer's office and Nelsonville-York schools, officials asked for requesters' names. An Ohio University employee also asked for the requester's name and the purpose of seeing a record, but said the requester did not have to answer.
Officials also in accordance with Ohio law did not create records that did not exist. For example, the Athens County Sheriff does not have a written contract because the terms of the sheriff's employment are outlined in state law. Officials were able to provide pertinent information such as salary, however.
Similarly, the Athens City Auditor does not have a typical phone bill but instead pays a percentage of the total city phone bill based on the number of phone lines used in the office. Officials provided the amount the auditor pays on the phone bill.
Post staff members made records requests to Ohio University, Athens City Council, Athens County Sheriff, Athens City police department, Nelsonville-York Schools, Athens County treasurer, Athens County commissioners and Athens City auditor.
-Lisa Schwerin and Suzanne Wilder contributed to this report.
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