An organization that works quietly on your behalf celebrated its 25th anniversary with an event at the Statehouse.
The Ohio Coalition for Open Government has pushed for open government and access to public records in our state. It works to ensure that state and local governments remain open, operate with transparency and serve the people of Ohio.
To be clear: This organization exists to ensure your access to public records, meetings and officials. Many news organizations are involved. Making sure that government operates with transparency helps journalists do their jobs on your behalf, but this is an organization that stands watch for all residents of Ohio.
To that end, its website at www.ohioopengov.com includes information that you can use to arm yourself with knowledge of the law in case someone in government tries to keep you from public information — everything from minutes of a village council meeting to a police incident report. If that doesn’t work, the coalition stands ready to help Ohioans who run into public-access roadblocks.