(A) Under certain circumstances, records are not defined as "public records" under Ohio law. In these situations, the public records request will be denied on that basis. The Ohio Revised Code requires that any denial be supported by legal authority. A denial that is responding to a written public records request will also be given in writing. Written reasons for denial will not be required for non-written public records requests.
(B) The Ohio Revised Code regards certain actions as being "denials" of public record requests. These situations are addressed in the following paragraphs.
(C) Redaction.
(1) The Ohio Revised Code defines a "redaction" as "obscuring or deleting any information that is exempt from the duty to permit public inspection or copying from an item that otherwise meets the definition of a 'record' in section 149.011 of the Revised Code." Examples of redaction are "blacking out" or "whiting out" or "cutting out" portions of a document.
(2) When a public record contains information that is not within the definition of a "public record" as defined by law, the Public Records Custodian will make available that portion of the public record that does meet the definition of a "public record." The Public Records Custodian shall make a copy of the public record, perform the redaction, then make a copy of that sheet and make the second copy available to the requestor. The requestor will not be charged for the first copy made. The first copy will be retained by the Public Records Custodian. Each redaction must be accompanied by a supporting explanation, including legal authority.
(D) Requests that are ambiguous, overly broad, or difficult to identify the public records requested. At times, a requestor may make a public records request from which the Public Records Custodian cannot determine what public records the requestor is seeking. In such circumstances, the Public Records Custodian will inform the requestor that the public records request is denied but will give the requestor an opportunity to more accurately describe the public records sought. If the requestor is seeking public records organized in a certain way, but the public records are not organized in that way, the Public Records Custodian will inform the requestor of the manner that the public records of the office under discussion are maintained and accessed. The requestor may then submit a public records request that more accurately reflects the organization of the public records and the actual public records sought by the requestor.
(Ord. 07-3250, passed 10-18-07)