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Huber Heights updates public-records policy to reflect Ohio HB 315, narrows fee‑waiver process
Summary
Council was asked to place an ordinance on the Monday agenda that clarifies fee exemptions for law-enforcement video records under Ohio House Bill 315; staff recommended removing ad-hoc waiver requests routed to the city manager and instead enumerating exemptions (public office requests, subpoenas, court orders).
City staff told council on Nov. 17 that changes to state law (House Bill 315) require updates to Huber Heights’ public-records policy, particularly for law-enforcement video requests.
Tony explained that an earlier policy allowed requestors to file an exemption form routed to the city manager for a case‑by‑case waiver. In consultation with the law director, staff recommended eliminating the ad-hoc waiver route and instead publishing a set of exemptions for which fees would be waived: requests from official public office representatives as defined by the Ohio Revised Code when responding to subpoenas or court orders, and other exemptions authorized by applicable Ohio law. Tony said commercial requesters had driven many high-volume video requests that consumed staff time and that the revised policy would streamline administration while aligning with state law.
Chris (law director/representative) added that requestors who believe they qualify under an exemption should identify the legal basis rather than expecting staff to search for an exemption. Staff asked council to waive the second reading and adopt the ordinance as an emergency so the change could be effective quickly; council agreed to place the item on the Monday agenda.
Tony and staff said the policy revision has reduced the number of nuisance commercial requests by moving requesters to an estimate-and-prepay stage, which reduces staff workload, but acknowledged staff still must produce cost estimates for requests that proceed to that stage.
