Residents request records on placement of jail trustees at Clermont County animal shelter

During public participation at the Jan. 8 Clermont County Board of Commissioners meeting, Jody "Jo" Wilson of Williamsburg and Tracy McCullough of Milford asked the board for records and raised safety concerns about the placement of jail trustees at the Clermont County animal shelter.

Wilson said she was requesting records under Ohio’s public-records law, citing Ohio Revised Code Section 149.43, for communications and lists of agencies, shelters and entities consulted regarding the county volunteer handbook and the placement of trustees. "Under the Ohio open records law 149.43, I am requesting an opportunity to inspect or obtain copies of public records that list agencies, shelters, kennels, including all organizations and or entities that were contacted or consulted regarding the construction and creation of the volunteer handbook," Wilson said.

Tracy McCullough, a retired Clermont County Public Library employee who said she supervised volunteers for 33 years, expressed alarm that inmates had been placed in the shelter without the same screening she said was required of volunteers. McCullough named four people she identified as inmates placed at the shelter—Samantha Cartwright, Vanessa Tudor, Patricia Weaver and Mark Wise—and said she was particularly concerned about the latter because of theft charges she said were in his record. "I was completely gobsmacked, shocked, surprised, and angry that our shelter staff, our volunteers, and our dogs were placed in harm's way by yet another sloppy decision by the 3 of you," McCullough said. She asked the board for records of communications between the commissioners and the Clermont County Jail concerning placement of those individuals.

Both speakers contrasted the apparent vetting applied to volunteer applicants with what they described as no similar safeguards for inmates assigned as trustees. McCullough said she had submitted a public-records request about these matters and asked the commissioners to respond in a timely manner. The board did not engage in debate during the public participation period; the meeting agenda specifies that commissioners do not answer questions or engage in debate during that time.

The board closed public participation after those speakers and continued with the regular agenda. No formal board action on the record addressed the public-records requests or the specific concerns raised by Wilson and McCullough during the meeting.