Commissioners' mistake with public notice causes judge to request meeting transcript

From The Athens News

An Athens County Common Pleas judge has filed an order for a transcript of the 2016 meeting of the county Board of Commissioners during which they approved a road waiver for a coal-mining company that they then rescinded this past September because of a mistake on a public notice.

The Coshocton-based coal company subsequently filed a court appeal of the county Commissioners’ decision to rescind the road waiver for the company’s mining project near Glouster in northern Athens County.

The Commissioners originally granted the right-of-way waiver to Oxford Coal Co. for work within 100 feet of County Road 68 as it relates to the coal-mining project last year. Oxford currently has a permit for the mine pending before the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The Ohio EPA recently approved a water-quality permit for the proposed mine.

The proposed permit area for the project is about 300 acres, located off Johnson Run Road not far from the Trimble State Wildlife Area. Oxford’s proposal calls for a five-year mining plan.

Critics of the proposed mine attended multiple Athens County Commission meetings over the past several months, encouraging them to rescind the waiver and to oppose the project.

In August, the Commissioners asked Oxford to voluntarily go through the public-hearing process again for the waiver after a mistake was found on its public notice for the hearing that already had been held.

The problem with the first public notice was that it did not specifically define what impact the operation would have on the road and its right-of-way. Plans submitted by the company do show those details, but the public notice failed to include them.

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Crestwood won’t release football investigation records

From The Record-Courier

Crestwood school officials blocked the release of records Monday that may shed light on why the Red Devils football team was abruptly suspended just before its Sept. 29 game. 

The district formally rejected the Record-Courier’s Oct. 12 request for public records pertaining to a now closed internal investigation of the football team, claiming any records are not releasable under federal law. Public records experts interviewed Monday disagree with Crestwood’s legal interpretation. 

The district did release redacted personnel files for eight football coaches as requested. Those documents did not shed any light on what prompted an eventual 2-game suspension. Nor were there any disciplinary notices, which was part of the request. 

In a letter from Treasurer Jill Rowe, the district denied “in its entirety” the release of any additional records. 

“Specifically, the request is denied as it seeks confidential investigative records and the disclosure of information provided by Board employees to whom confidentiality was reasonably promised,” Rowe wrote. ”... In addition, the request is denied because it seeks personally identifiable information regarding students attending public schools.” 

Mantua police are currently looking into what happened for a second time after Portage County Prosecutor Victor Vigluicci asked for additional information before he decides if criminal charges are warranted. Mantua Police Chief Harry Buchert has not returned calls from the Record-Courier since Vigluicci sent the case back to his department last week. 

The Record-Courier disagrees with Crestwood’s decision, General Manager and Editor Michael Shearer said. 

“We believe Crestwood is clearly wrong in its interpretation of the law, nor is it a police agency with confidential investigatory records,” he said. “We specifically noted in our request that we did not seek any identifiable student information and understood documents would likely need to redacted in part.” 

Attorney David Marburger, an expert in public records law, said Crestwood appears to be improperly relying on a law governing confidential law enforcement records, which allows police agencies to keep information confidential during an ongoing investigation. 

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Blade uses public records to show concerns around high costs of Maumee court audit

From The Blade

A Maumee Municipal Court audit launched in response to suspected theft by an employee will cost nearly five times more than the city's separate audit already in progress.

The Blade, through a public records request, obtained a letter of engagement between the court and the Maumee-based accounting firm Gilmore Jasion Mahler. The five-page letter outlines services to be performed at a rate of $245 per hour.

The letter is dated Oct. 19 and was signed Oct. 20 by clerk of court Frank Frey. Former court employee Jane Monroe was indicted on seven felonies Oct. 6. She’s accused of stealing more than $30,000 from her employer. The court was notified by Maumee Police of potential theft in September.

Mayor Richard Carr has been frustrated with several elements of the court's response.

"They were told about the theft in their court on Sept. 21," Mayor Carr said. "They knew nothing about it for 41 days, and then it takes them another month to even enter into an agreement to have an audit done to find out how the money was stolen."

The first page of the letter states the report "will contain a statement that is intended solely for the use of the court." Mayor Carr has stated from the beginning he wanted the court to use the Ohio State Auditor's office to ensure transparency and guarantee city officials could see the findings.

Mayor Carr said the court has not been willing to share information in the past, such as redacting specific services on bills council is essentially forced to pay.

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Plain Dealer and Advance Ohio are backing out of the Greater Cleveland Partnership over lack of transparency

From Cleveland Scene

Friday, on WCPN’s weekly Reporters’ Roundtable, Cleveland.com editor Chris Quinn announced that the Plain Dealer and Advance Ohio (PD/Cleveland.com parent company) would be renouncing their memberships in the Greater Cleveland Partnership, the local chamber of commerce. 

That decision comes amid local controversy surrounding Cleveland’s bid for Amazon’s second headquarters, details of which have been kept secret. Though the city of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County and 20 other quasi-public and private organizations were involved in the creation of the bid, no one is sharing specifics. Mayor Frank Jackson told Channel 5 that he would release the bid eventually, but GCP is said to be mandating the tight lid on information.

“We at Advance Ohio and the Cleveland Plain Dealer have been a member of that group for a long time,” Quinn said on WCPN. “We’re getting out. We’re not going to be a part of it anymore. We are all about transparency, and don’t want to be part of something that’s not.” 

Responding to a follow-up inquiry, Quinn told Scene that Advance and the PD had been weighing for some time whether or not they would renew their membership in February. In fact, they were “leaning toward” not renewing. 

“We have been questioning the value our organization receives in return for the substantial membership dues we pay, for one,” Quinn wrote in an email. “But GCP's old-fashioned role in keeping the Amazon proposal secret made the decision more urgent.” 

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Good news, bad news on open records legislation

By Dennis Hetzel, OCOG President

Several statutes related to open records are moving through the Ohio Legislature.

Unfortunately, we still cannot get traction on House Bill 8, which would remove the names of minors whose names appear in accident reports involving school buses.  We are particularly concerned about the precedent this could set to undermine the long-standing rule that initial police incident reports, including traffic accidents, are public records.

We have made several reasonable compromise suggestions with no luck. We also are unhappy about confusing, unnecessary language being added to protect the release of individual medical claims information. While no one believes this information should be public, we maintain that existing law covers the concern. The new language is murky and could result in unwanted interpretations.

The bill has passed the House and is headed to the Senate floor, where we will again seek to amend the legislation.  If the bill makes it to the governor’s desk as written, we will request a veto.

Here is the status of some other items we are following:

Mugshot sites: Gov. Kasich signed HB 6 into law, which makes it illegal to charge people for the removal of criminal or arrest records – something our members wouldn’t do. The bill is aimed at the websites that charge hundreds of dollars to remove booking photographs of arrests. ONMA worked with the sponsor, Rep. John Barnes, to craft acceptable language.

Destruction of arrest records: HB 64 is a well-intentioned bill that seeks to help people wrongly arrested by police. However, we opposed the expungement (destruction) of the arrest records as the answer for a number of reasons, particularly because destruction of these records provides no accountability for why the government wrongly accused someone. We have been working with the bill sponsors on a compromise idea that would keep most of the information open.

Campus free speech: Many of you are covering controversial campus speakers and how college officials are dealing with campus free speech issues. HB 363 makes it harder for local officials to block speakers based on the content of their speech, possible security issues and other concerns.  (The bill also makes payment of student activity fees voluntary.)

Ohio Citizen Participation Act: Ohio would have a national model “anti-SLAPP” bill under this legislation that we strongly support. Senate Bill 203 just had its first hearing. ONMA and other supporting groups expect to testify on Nov. 8.  The bill creates an expedited court process to dispose of cases against those who are sued for exercising their free-speech rights under the U.S. and Ohio constitutions.

Public agency refuses to release transportation data related to Amazon bid

From The Plain Dealer

The Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, a publicly-funded entity obligated to follow Ohio's open records laws, has denied a request for transportation data it supplied to Team NEO as part of the region's bid to attract Amazon's second headquarters.

Grace Gallucci, NOACA's executive director, said she has been asked not to release the records and she directed cleveland.com to Dix & Eaton Public Relations, which helped organize the Amazon bid and is responding to media inquiries. Cleveland.com did not request the Amazon bid but asked NOACA, which helps governments with transportation and environmental planning, for the underlying transportation information it gathered for the bid.

"We can't speak for NOACA on their data so that's a request they have to answer," Dix & Eaton CEO Chas Withers said, noting that some information related to the bid would be released today to The Plain Dealer.  

Gallucci said in an email after the story was first published online that the agency would review the request and respond according to the time frame prescribed by law.

"The referral to Dix and Eaton was intended to be helpful to you, as well as be consistent with my team's directive on point person for media coordination," Gallucci said. "As is NOACA's procedure, your request is being reviewed internally and we will get back to you as soon as possible, but definitely within the legal timeframe."   

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish have refused to release the bid, claiming that region's bid is proprietary, though they have been unable to show how underlying information is protected information. 

A spokeswoman for Budish said: "The county executive has given no directives to other agencies regarding what they can or cannot release."

NOACA's second vice president is Valarie McCall, Cleveland's chief of government and international affairs. She worked on the bid and has been a proponent of blocking the release of the Amazon bid as a whole.

McCall said in an email after the story posted that she was unaware of cleveland.com's request to NOACA and that she has not instructed the agency to sit on the information. 

Reporter discovers ECOT’s ‘public meeting’ procedures are pathetic

From The Columbus Dispatch

Like any public meeting, the ECOT school board meeting is supposed to be open to anyone who wants to attend. But trying to get into the building and then figure out what the unelected body is doing was a challenge Tuesday night at the online school’s posh South Side headquarters.

Board committee meetings began at 6 p.m. in the building off of South High Street, its hallways decorated with large photographs of Ohio’s GOP leaders: Gov. John Kasich, Auditor Dave Yost, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Terrence O’Donnell, lawmakers and others. But the section of the building where the committees were meeting was locked up tight.

After The Dispatch was able to gain entry to the building with the help of a security guard, a Columbus police officer working a security detail ordered the newspaper out, saying the committee meetings were not public. The Dispatch informed him that, under Ohio law, committee meetings are, in fact, open to the public. Eventually an ECOT employee allowed the reporter into the committee meetings, already in progress.

The board was being briefed that ECOT had repaid the state almost $14 million in tax dollars in the past four months, through deductions from the state’s educational payments for online students, and that ECOT has an employee pension liability of $137 million. ECOT has said it will close if the state Supreme Court doesn’t order Ohio to pay its bill for students it couldn’t document being actively enrolled.

Then the board meeting began, with members moving to a different, unlocked, part of the building.

The board immediately closed the meeting to the public —a Dispatch reporter was the only outsider present — for an executive session with an attorney handling the lawsuit against the state Department of Education. The session lasted close to an hour and a half. Among those in the closed meeting was Scott Kern, chief strategy officer for Altair Learning Management, the for-profit management firm owned by ECOT founder William Lager, which ECOT has paid tens of millions of dollars.

The board reopened the public meeting and took action on several board agenda items, such as changing policies on truants and dropouts. None of the details of these actions could be fully discerned because ECOT doesn’t provide copies of its agenda items being voted on, and its website’s electronic agenda locks down the documents, making them inaccessible to the public.

The board approved a five-year financial forecast with almost no debate. Brittny Pierson, who runs ECOT, said no copies of documents related to board actions could be provided following the meeting, including the five-year forecast or the policies. She suggested that The Dispatch get in touch with ECOT on Wednesday.

Court seeks comment on releasing grand jury transcripts in police shootings

From The Columbus Dispatch

A proposed change in Ohio court rules to allow now-secret grand jury transcripts to be released to the public — targeted at cases in which police officers are not indicted in fatal shootings of suspects — has reached a new phase.

The Ohio Supreme Court listed the change among proposed amendments to court rules it released for public comment on Monday.

A task force appointed by Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor recommended in 2016 that grand jury testimony and evidence be released in limited cases to help foster public confidence in grand jury indictment decisions.

The task force was formed to find ways to increase public confidence in the grand jury system following controversial fatal shootings of blacks in which white officers were not charged with crimes, such as the in the death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland in 2014.

The proposal would allow any member of the public to petition a court to release the records of grand jury proceedings to show why it declined to issue an indictment in a given case.

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Records regarding Mandel commercials hard to come by

From The Columbus Dispatch

Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel says he’s a major proponent of government transparency, pointing often to the online Ohio Checkbook he created. But he’s also claiming there was no written communication among him and his senior staff about the cost of and payments for a $2 million series of television ads that ran last year at taxpayer expense.

That’s the opposite of transparency, several observers said Monday.

“It’s entirely not plausible that a state agency would find a way to spend $2 million on advertising without internal discussion about it or written communication about it,” said David R. Marburger, a Cleveland attorney who has written a book about Ohio’s open-records law. “It’s even more implausible that this would be designed to be in increments small enough to avoid the Board of Control with no written communication.”

Mandel announced in June of 2016 that his office would spend less than $800,000 on television advertising for the STABLE program, which allows families to set up tax-free accounts for disabled children.

The treasurer’s office ended up running about $2 million worth of commercials, which featured Mandel and Ohio State Football Coach Urban Meyer. And it broke up the buys into chunks of less than $50,000 apiece, thereby avoiding a requirement to get approval from the Controlling Board. In response, Mandel’s fellow Republicans in the legislature passed a law as part of the budget this year to put a stop to the practice.

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When universities conduct president searches in the dark, the results can be a disaster

From The Courier Journal

When Robert Sternberg was hired in 2013 as University of Wyoming’s 24th president, the state Senate president called him a “rock star.”

But he was selected without faculty or student input and was forced to resign 137 days later.

Sternberg, who had driven away deans and thrown the school into chaos, admitted the 131-year-old university in Laramie “might not be the best fit for me.” Wyoming’s board of trustees also acknowledged it had made a mistake and voted unanimously to conduct its next presidential search in the open.

After the University of Louisville's board announced it will try to find a replacement for ousted President James Ramsey through a search in which the names of finalists will be kept secret, the Courier-Journal examined other confidential quests. It found that while some have produced successful presidents, others were disastrous.

►At the University of Tulsa, for example, after a confidential search led by the same headhunter the University of Louisville hired, President Geoffrey Orsak was fired in 74 days.

►At Maryland’s public honors university, St. Mary’s College, President Joseph Urgo resigned two years after he was hired, as enrollment plummeted so drastically it put the school’s future in jeopardy.

►At the University of New Mexico, Washington banker John Elac – a friend of the school’s search consultant – quit on his second visit to campus, before his contract was even signed, when an enraged faculty challenged his credentials.

University search consultants, including Bill Funk, who the University of Louisville is paying up to $170,000 to find Ramsey’s successor, say private searches are essential to recruit respected sitting university presidents because none will throw their hat in the ring if they know they will be outed.

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