Cuyahoga County and Other Jurisdictions Don’t Live Up to Sunshine Law , Ohio Auditor Says

Ohio Auditor Dave Yost says a test of 20 counties and cities from different areas of the state shows about 40 percent are not fully following Ohio’s Sunshine law. 

"I would say I was disappointed,” he said. “You know, transparency has become such a watch word for local government and state government—government everywhere. And we see so many people in local governments fighting to maintain and further that transparency, but we also see places where the door is being shut, the curtains are being drawn. And barriers are being erected. And that’s just wrong. When government is not open but is closed, it’s a short path for government to become our master instead of our servant.”

Yost’s findings show Crawford County as well as the cities of Beavercreek and Bowling Green failed to track public records requests by date and fulfillment. In Cuyahoga County, Yost says there’s a lack of consistency across county departments on how public records logs are kept. He notes there is a lack of evidence that county officials attended public records training and the manual for those employees did not include public records training requirements.

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Cuyahoga County and Other Jurisdictions Don’t Live Up to Sunshine Law , Ohio Auditor Says