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Journal Opinion
"Officials Blow Off OpportunityThe turnout appeared encouraging, that is until we realized who didn't turn out.Of the 250 who attended a workshop on Ohio's Sunshine Laws Sept. 22, only a handful of elected officials from the Mahoning Valley chose to show up. Instead, nearly all the seats in the McKay Auditorium at Youngstown State's University's Beeghly College of Education were filled with public employees and private citizens.Are our local elected officials so arrogant that they feel no need for a refresher course on the most important aspect of the proper administration of government?We suggest that is indeed the case.The seminar is part of a program developed by the Ohio attorney general's office and the Ohio Newspaper Association to educate public employees about the Ohio Public Records Act and the Ohio Public Meetings Act. State Attorney General Jim Petro and members of his office came here in person, not via video conference, to conduct the session. This particular session was one of 10 such workshops held throughout the state. And for good reason.An audit completed April 12 by the Ohio Coalition for Open Government shows that on average local government agencies in Ohio complied only 53% of the time when asked to supply simple documents plainly covered under the Ohio Public Records Act. In Mahoning County, the number stood at 66%. "That's a problem," Petro said.The law allows anyone in the world to inspect public records dealing with the business of local and state government in Ohio. Exceptions to these rules were explained during the seminar.Some of this responsibility falls on the shoulders of the public employees and office administrators who must take the time to prepare and fulfill these requests. Given such an abysmal compliance record across the state, attendance by our elected officials should not only have been encouraged, but made mandatory.For example, no Mahoning County commissioner was present, nor were seven of the eight members of Youngstown City Council, nor the city's top elected official, Mayor George McKelvey.The city of Youngstown did see fit to send Law Director John McNally IV and members of his staff. Third Ward Councilman Richard Atkinson was the only member of that body to attend.It was only recently that Atkinson and four of his colleagues came under fire for apparently violating the state's Open Meetings Act when they gathered to discuss city business without first notifying the public or the press. Under the law, council must provide at least 24 hours' notice and inform the public and media of the time and place of such meetings. We commend those elected officials who attended. Those who didn't will have a hard time justifying future mistakes by citing ignorance of the law. Ohio's Sunshine Laws are not designed to embarrass public officeholders. They are safeguards of our democracy."