At 8 a.m. every Tuesday, you can count on seeing two members of Brighton’s three-person village council sharing breakfast at the Cup’a Sunshine Coffee Shop. Sometimes the conversation wanders into a discussion of council business. Is this a “meeting?”

The three members of the seven-member Open Government Commission who make up the body’s Finance Committee meet on Wednesday evenings to review financial issues. A fourth commission member who is not on the committee attends a meeting to listen to discussion of a particular topic. Is this a “meeting” of the Open Government Commission?

In the midst of a natural disaster, pandemic influenza or other widespread calamity, must a public body still follow the Open Meetings Act, including the requirement that members attend in person? For the most part, the answer is Yes. 

First, if the normal meeting place of the public body is available, even during a declared emergency, there is no relaxation of any requirement of Ohio Revised Code Section 121.22, the Open Meetings Act.

Walker v. Ohio State Univ. Bd. of Trs., 2010 Ohio 373 (10th Dist. Ct. of App.)

Ms. Walker filed an action under R.C. 149.351 asking that Ohio State University be fined for wrongfully destroying completed questionnaires that were collected as part of a University professor’s research study. On appeal, the 10th District affirmed the trial court’s decision that the questionnaires were “intellectual property records” as defined in R.C. 149.43(A)(5), and thus were excepted from the disclosure requirements of the Public Records Act. Because Ms. Walker never had a legal right to the records, she was not “aggrieved” by their destruction, and therefore was not eligible to bring a civil forfeiture action under R.C. 149.351. 

The Ohio Supreme Court declined Ms. Walker’s appeal of the 10th District Court of Appeals’ decision.

I am a newly-elected public official. What are my obligations under the Public Records Act?

All elected officials in the state of Ohio, or appropriate designees, are required to attend training approved by the Attorney General once per elected term. The purpose of this training is to ensure that all employees of public offices are appropriately educated about their obligations under the Public Records Act. The training is intended to enhance officials’ knowledge of their duty to provide access to public records, and to provide guidance in updating their offices’ public records policies.