Public Records Requests

Ohio Sunshine Manuel Chapter 2, A. 10-11

“Prompt inspection, or provide copies within a reasonable period of time There is no specific time by which a public office must respond to a request. The Public Records Act says that an office must respond to a request to inspect records “promptly,” and must respond to a request for copies of records “within a reasonable period of time.”152 These terms do not mean “immediately” or “without a moment’s delay.”153 Some courts have interpreted “promptly” to mean “without delay” and “with reasonable speed.”154 However, when a request to inspect records unreasonably interferes with the discharge of the public office’s duties, the office may not be obligated to comply.155 For example, public offices are not required to permit in-person inspection of public records if the requester is an inmate and doing so would “create[] security issues, unreasonably interfere[] with the officials’ discharge of their duties, and violate[] prison rules.”156 Any number of facts and circumstances may be relevant to whether a public office responded “promptly” or “within a reasonable period of time,” such as the type of record that is requested,157 whether redactions or legal review is necessary,158 and the volume of records that must be reviewed.159 The Public Records Act specifies that when a law enforcement agency responds to a request for video records, the timeliness of the office’s response must take into account the time it took the office to retrieve, download, review, redact, seek legal advice, and produce the video record, in addition to other facts and circumstances.160 The cases in footnote 161 highlight the fact-specific analysis courts undertake when deciding whether a public office responded “promptly” or “within a reasonable period of time.”161 The Supreme Court of Ohio has cautioned that “[n]o pleading of too much expense, or too much time involved, or too much interference with normal duties, can be used by the [public office] to evade the public’s right to inspect and obtain a copy of public records within a reasonable time.”162 11. Inspection at no cost during regular business hours A public office must make its public records available for inspection at all reasonable times during regular business hours.163 “Regular business hours” means established business hours.164 When a public office operates twenty-four hours a day, such as a police department, the office may adopt hours that approximate normal administrative hours during which inspection may be provided.165 Generally, public offices may not charge requesters for inspection of public records.166 Requesters are not required to inspect the records themselves; they may designate someone to inspect the requested records.167 A public office is required to make its records available for inspection only at the place where they are stored.168 A request to inspect records does not give the requester a right to directly access the public office’s computer systems or databases. Rather, a public office may prepare the records for inspection outside their native electronic format.169 Posting records online is one way to provide them for inspection — the public office may not charge a fee just because a person could use their own equipment to print or otherwise download a record posted online.170”