267 local governments cited for violating Ohio public records law, auditor says

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A handful of Cuyahoga County governments were among 267 cited last year by Auditor Dave Yost’s office for not following various laws pertaining to Ohio’s public records policies. 

Yost’s office issued 321 citations in 2017 to cities, villages, libraries and school districts for failing to attend public records law training, to have proper records retention policies on the books and to follow other requirements, according to a tally of audits released last year. That’s down from 414 public records-related citations issued to 357 public entities in 2016. 

The citations were issued mostly for officials lacking public records law training or a complete public records policy. In some cases, the public office couldn’t provide records requested by auditors or failed to do so in a reasonable amount of time.

Yost released a report highlighting the citations today to coincide with Sunshine Week, a national initiative to highlight access to public information.  Read more…