OPEN AND ACCOUNTABLE

According to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, the public needs to know what rights are afforded to them under the state’s open records law:

• The right to request public records without providing your name or the reason for your request.
• The right to make a public records request orally or in writing.
• The right to promptly inspect public records, while allowing the office in question a “reasonable” amount of time to retrieve, review and redact the requested records.
• The right to receive copies of public records at cost.
• The right to get copies of public records on paper, on the medium on which they are kept or on any other medium you request (a compact disc, for example), if the keeper of the records determines that can be done reasonably as part of normal operations.
• The right to an explanation if any part of your public records request is denied.
• The right to revise a request that the recipient determined was overly broad or ambiguous with the help of that public office.
• The right to have redactions from public records made plainly visible and to be notified of the redactions.
• The right to file a lawsuit against a public office that fails to comply with the Ohio Public Records Act.
• The right to recover court costs, reasonable attorney fees and damages if you win a Public Records Act lawsuit.

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