Athens County was ranked among the worst in the state in terms of its willingness to share public records by the Ohio Coalition for Open Government last week.
The coalition asked journalists from Ohio news publications to request public records from government agencies in each county to determine how they complied with open records laws.
The Cincinnati Enquirer published the results of the audit in a graphic, highlighting six pieces of information accessible to the public under the state’s open records laws:
· County minutes
· Mayor’s expenses
· Police chief’s salary
· Police incident reports
· Superintendent’s salary
· Treasurer’s expense record
Overall, Ohio’s county governments were more willing to comply with state laws, compared to a similar report compiled ten years ago, according to the graphic.
But in Athens County, only two of the six requested reports — county minutes and police incident reports — were granted without some sort of “obstruction,” meaning requests weren't immediately attended to.
That makes Athens County one of only six other counties in the state to score so low. Half of those counties, including Athens, are in what’s considered Appalachian Ohio.
The records requests in Athens were placed by Debra Tobin, a reporter and editor at the Logan Daily News, in April. Tobin then compiled a report on the results.
Athens City Schools
The report stated that the Athens County School District seemed reluctant to give out any information at all — specifically Superintendent Carl Martin's salary and Treasurer Bryan Bunting's annual expense report.
For those two pieces of information, the Enquirer graphic reported that school officials obstructed the records from being released.
Tobin reported that Bunting seemed "put out" when she asked for the records, and that Bunting told her he couldn't print any documents out for her.
But Bunting told The Post Monday afternoon that he couldn't print the financial report out — because there isn't one to disclose.
"There is no such thing called 'financial report,'" Bunting said. "We have (the) annual financial report that has been on our website for 15 or 16 years now that's been audited. But they asked one for this year. We can't give them this year's report. It simply doesn't exist yet."
Bunting added that his office's "really old computer system" doesn't allow him to print certain figures even if they did exist, specifically referring to payroll information.
And he said folks who request information sometimes struggle to understand.
It is irritating," Bunting said. "But . . . they are complete strangers, and I can't fight over them."
The City of Athens and Athens Police Department
Tobin reported that one clerk at the city of Athens did not promise that her requests for Mayor Paul Wiehl’s expenses and Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle's salary would be granted, even though that information is considered to be public record.
Athens City Auditor Kathy Hecht said that none of the records requests came through her office but that she was very concerned by the results of the report.
Information on employee’s salaries is “absolutely public record,” Hecht said. She speculated that the records request for Pyle’s salary could have been placed at APD. But in her report, Tobin said she had ordered the record from the city.
Hecht, who is also on the City Records Commission, said that her staff regularly attends public record training sessions in order to make sure records are accessible to the public and that she often consults city law director Pat Lang for advice on what is considered public record and what isn’t.
“Sometimes it’s just not that clear,” she said. “You can get into as much trouble for giving out something you’re not supposed to . . . If you go to the Ohio Revised Code or Athens City Code, it spells out the fines we could receive if we give any of those types of records out."
Under the Ohio Public Records Act, a public office may be forced to pay up to $1,000 in statutory damages to anyone whose request for public records is denied and challenged in court.
Hecht has ordered a request for a copy of Tobin's personal report that was entered into a statewide database, as she said she's skeptical of its findings. The Post obtained a copy of the report from the coalition's database.
“I'm not sure Athens committed such a big violation, but I'll reserve my judgment until I see the spreadsheet,” she said. “We should always be concerned with making our city and county better [for accessibility]."
Athens County
Workers at Athens County goverment were helpful in person by quickly disclosing minutes for comissioners' meetings, but “terrible via email,” according to the report. The report also found the commissioner’s meeting minutes to be outdated.
In her report, Tobin said she didn't get a response from two emails requesting information on restaurant inspections, birth data, and the records retention policy and schedule by April 25, though she was instructed to request for the material that way.
But Charles Hammer, administrator for the Athens City-County Health Department, said Tobin's findings aren't indicative of any wrongdoing from his office.
"We provide requested documents immediately and promptly," Hammer said. "This (audit) is inaccurate."
Athens County's public records policy was last updated in 2007, according to the policy, found on county auditor Jill Thompson's website.
Hammer added that he must follow "specific protocols" for releasing birth records, that take time to compile.
"They're completely wrong," he said of the audit.
Stringer Suhyeon Park contributed to this article.
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