Today’s column is intended as a public service to the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners. It appears they do not understand the meaning of the term “promptly.”
This matters because the Ohio Public Records Act requires the commissioners to respond to requests “promptly.” Recently, and despite this statutory directive, the commissioners withheld a term sheet supplied by the Cincinnati Bengals for nearly two months before providing it in response to a public records request from The Cincinnati Enquirer.
On April 22, The Enquirer sent a request to the county for the following: “copies of all documents and communications… the Bengals have sent the county since Jan. 1 to present.” Pretty simple, right?
On April 6, two weeks before The Enquirer request, the Bengals had delivered to the county a proposed “Paycor Stadium Lease Extension.” It was one page. And it was unquestionably a “document the Bengals have sent the county since Jan. 1.”
So, when did the county produce it? That would be June 12. I hope Ja’Marr Chase runs his routes a little more “promptly” than that. But to be fair, let’s talk about how we understand the term “promptly.”
There’s the dictionary definition. According to Merriam-Webster, “prompt” means “performed readily or immediately.” Fair to say that two months isn’t “readily or immediately.”
We might also consider the Ohio Ethics Commission Public Records Policy. That document says that several factors go into determining what constitutes “promptly.” These include the volume of records requested, the proximity of the location where the records are stored and the necessity for any legal review and redaction of the records requested.
The County is 0 for 3 here. The term sheet is one page. Not voluminous by any objective measure. The term sheet wasn’t stored in some sort of archival off-site facility. It was one mouse click away. And once the county released the term sheet, there was no redaction. Nor should there have been. There is nothing in the term sheet that would qualify for redaction under the Public Records Act.
In short, The Enquirer made a routine record request. And the Ohio Ethics Commission has something to say about this. According to that document, “[r]outine requests for records should be satisfied in an expedient manner and within three business days. Routine requests are those that do not require an extensive search for responsive documents, detailed pre-release review and/or are not voluminous.” The county took 16 times the amount of time recommended by the Ohio Ethics Commission. However, you describe it, that’s not “promptly.”
Taxpayers deserve access to public records promptly. There’s no gray area there. The county commissioners don’t own public records. They are, in the words of the Ohio Supreme Court, “the people’s records.” Given that the commissioners don’t own the records, they can’t arbitrarily choose when to release them. They must do so promptly. That’s just the law.
Jack Greiner is a partner at Faruki PLL law firm in Cincinnati. He represents Enquirer Media in First Amendment and media issues.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Strictly Legal | Hamilton County Commissioners needs a primer on ‘promptly’
Reporting by Jack Greiner / Cincinnati Enquirer
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