Summit County Executive Russell M. Pry Holds Ohio Public Records Law Training

On Wednesday, October 17, 2007, Summit County Executive Russell M. Pry sponsored an Ohio Public Records Law training session at the Akron-Summit County Public Library in downtown Akron. The free training session was facilitated by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office in an effort to educate elected officials, their appointed designees and the public on House Bill 9.

House Bill 9 became effective on Saturday, September 29, 2007. The act requires the Ohio Attorney General’s Office to provide all public offices with a model public records policy, assist those offices in developing policies for handling public records requests and provide three hours of Ohio Public Records Law training to all elected officials.

“It was great to see so many local elected officials satisfying their training requirements in such a timely manner,” said Summit County Executive Russell M. Pry. “Those in attendance demonstrated their commitment to open and ethical government.”

The training session covered the following topics: organization and availability of public records, records retention schedules, dealing with ambiguous records requests, denial of requests, choice of duplicating medium, proper editing techniques and the Ohio Open Meeting Act.

The following officials are exempt from House Bill 9 trainings: justices of the Supreme Court and judges and clerks of the Court of Appeals, Courts of Common Pleas, County Courts and Municipal Courts.

For more information on House Bill 9, or to schedule a training session, contact the Ohio Attorney General’s Office by clicking on www.ag.state.oh.us. Citizens without access to the Internet may call 1-877-AG-4-OHIO.