Resident presses city for police dispatch audio and personnel file; law director cites overly broad request

During the public-comment portion of the Jan. 13 Twinsburg City Council meeting, resident Karen Clinton told council she had filed public-records requests in September 2025 seeking a 24-hour block of police dispatch audio (06:00 on June 6, 2025, to 06:00 on June 7, 2025) and a review of the complete personnel file of former dispatcher Loretta Nash. Clinton said she received a denial for items one and two of request #85 25 and asked that the records be provided.

Clinton said she had been patient and that a portion of the documents previously released were certificates but not the full personnel file. “I'm entitled to the audio, mister law director. I'm asking for one day,” she said during public comment.

A city legal advisor responded in council remarks later in the meeting, explaining the city had objected to the request because it sought a complete duplication of all radio traffic over a 24-hour period without limiting information. The advisor described the objection as grounded in the legal concept that a municipality may deny a request that is overly broad or vague and asked the requester to provide additional identifiers — incident numbers, specific officers, or subject matter — to allow staff to identify and produce discrete, identifiable records.

The advisor also said staff would follow up on the requested personnel-file review and that some documents had already been released where the request had been specific enough. The council asked staff to follow up with the requester to clarify the request so the city can meet its public-records obligations.

Next steps: The city advised the requester to resubmit a narrowed request or contact staff with clarifying details; staff said they will follow up on the personnel-file request.