GALLIPOLIS - The Gallia County Commissioners adopted the Gallia County Public Records Policy during their regular meeting on Thursday.

In accordance with H.B. 9 passed by the 126th Ohio General Assembly, the policy provides for prompt inspection of public records and the provision of copies of public records within a reasonable period of the time.

The definition of a public record is any item that is stored on a fixed medium, such as paper, electronic (including e-mails) and other formats; created or received by, or sent under the jurisdiction of a public office; and documents the organization, functions, policies, decisions, procedures, operations and other activities of the office.

According to the policy, if any of the three requirements is absent, the item is not a record and is not to be considered “public record.”

Public offices are also not required to create new records, even if it is just compiling of information, in response to a public records request.

There are several exemptions to the public records law, which the state rules should be narrowly interpreted and requests for information that may be exempted from the public records law will be reviewed by the county prosecutor.

In requesting a public record, the requester will have to identify the record so the office can easily identify, retrieve and review the records.

Though an office may ask for the request in writing, for the requester's identity and inquire about requester's intended use of the information, the office must also inform the requester that none of the preceding requests are required.

However, it could be determined that the information would benefit the requester by allowing the public office to easily locate, identify or deliver the requested public record.

During the request, the requester has the right to choose the medium upon which they would like a record to be duplicated, such as on paper, on the same form in which the records are kept within the office or any medium upon which the public office determines the record can “reasonably be duplicated as an intregal part of the normal operation of the public office.”

All public records must be made available for inspection during regular business hours and made available for inspection promptly.

Copies of public records are required to be made available within a “reasonable period of time.”

Unfortunately, there is no defined period of time and “reasonable period of time” depends on the circumstances of the public office at the time of the request, the breadth of the request and whether legal evaluation of the responsive records is required before release.

Requesters are prohibited from making copies of the public record themselves to protect the integrity of the original document.

Should the request be denied, the public office is required to provide the requester with an explanation, including legal authority, of why the request was denied.

The public office can charge the requester for the “actual cost” of reproduction, which can not include employee time.

Payment can be required in advance and should the requester ask that the documents be mailed or transmitted to them, payment for the cost of delivery, including supplies needed to send the request, can be required upfront.

Should a public office fail to respond to a public records request, the requester can contact the public office's senior representative or request a meeting with the county prosecutor and if still not satisfied, can follow the legal means for addressing the complaint under the Ohio Revised Code.