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County
Administrator, Vond Hall, led the presentation on the Public
Records Law changes that will go into effect September 29, 2007
pursuant to H.B. 9:
o The Public
Records Law (R.C. 149.43) generally requires every public office
to prepare promptly all public records and make them available
for inspection at all reasonable times during regular business
hours.
The Public Records
Act imposes two primary obligations upon public offices:
o Provide prompt
inspection of public records; and
o Provide copies of
public records within a reasonable period of time.
These obligations,
in turn, provide the public with two primary rights:
o The right to
prompt inspection of public records; and
o The right to
copies within a reasonable period of time.
Overview
o Upon request and
within a reasonable period of time, a public office or person
responsible for public records generally must make copies
available at cost. (R.C. 149.43(B)(l).)
o “Public office”
includes any state agency, public institution, political
subdivision, or other organized body, office, agency,
institution, or entity established by Ohio law for the exercise
of any function of government.
o “Records” include
any document, device, or item, regardless of physical form or
characteristic, including an electronic record as defined in
R.C. 1306.01, created or received by or coming under the
jurisdiction of any public office of the state or its political
subdivisions which serves to document the organization,
functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations, or other
activities of the office. (R.C. 149.011(A) and (0).)
o Under continuing
law, “public record” generally means records that are kept by
any public office, including but not limited to, state, county,
city, village, township, and school district units and records
pertaining to the delivery of educational services by an
alternative school in Ohio kept by a nonprofit or for-profit
entity operating the alternative school pursuant to R.C.
3313.533.
Identification of
Public Record
o Provides that a
public office may deny a request for public records when the
requester makes an ambiguous or overly broad request or the
public office cannot reasonably identify the public records
being requested, but must provide the requester an opportunity
to revise the request.
o If a request for
public records is ultimately denied, requires a public office to
provide the requester an explanation of the reasons for the
denial, including legal authority.
o Generally
precludes a public office from limiting or conditioning the
availability of public records by requiring disclosure of the
requester’s identity or the intended use of the requested
record.
Choice of Medium
o The public records
law allows a person to choose the medium upon which they would
like a record to be duplicated: (1) on paper, (2) in the same
form as the public office keeps it (e.g. on computer disk), or
(3) on any medium upon which the public office determines the
record can “reasonably be duplicated as an integral part of the
normal operations of the public office.”
Costs for Public
Records
o Generally, a
requester is only required to pay for the actual cost to the
public office per copy. Employee time will not be calculated
into the “actual cost” charge.
Policy:
o The act requires
all public offices to adopt a public records policy in
compliance with the Public Records Law or responding to public
records request and create a poster that describes its public
records policy and post in a conspicuous place in the public
office and in all locations where the public office has branch
offices.
Administrator Hall
provided the Commissioners with a draft of a proposed public
records policy for their review.
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