We attended a three hour training session sponsored by Ohio’s Attorney General on compliance with the Ohio’s Sunshine laws as written under Ohio Revised Code section 149.43.  Here is a link to that code section.

http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/149.43

Basically, a taxpayer is entitled to see any public record (created, received by or coming under the jurisdiction of a public office) as long as it is on a fixed medium.  The request may be either written on verbal, and the requester does not have to give their name or their motive for the request.  If you only want to inspect the records, you can view them usually between 9-5.  The requester has to be very specific in the request for information.

We asked if the public may request to see the compensation package of any government official, and we were told that those records are part of the public record, and therefore, can be requested.

If you want hard copies of the public records, you probably will be charged.  However, if they can send the files via email, there should be no charge.

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