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Public commenter accuses North Ridgeville law department of withholding records, urges Sunshine Law training
Summary
At the March 16 North Ridgeville City Council meeting, resident Robert Baumgartner alleged the law department is obstructing public-records requests — including bid scoring sheets and a 2023 police workplace survey — and asked the mayor to mandate Ohio Sunshine Law training for department heads; council granted Baumgartner an extra three minutes to speak.
Robert Baumgartner told the North Ridgeville City Council on March 16 that the city's law department is obstructing public-records requests and called for mandated public-records training.
Baumgartner, identified by the clerk as a written submitter, told the council that his November request for request-for-proposal documents and bid-scoring sheets for major vendors 'some of whom he said have been campaign donors to the mayor' has gone unanswered. He said the law department had told the public the office helps citizens narrow searches but that the written record, he asserted, shows the office instead is 'engineering constructive denials.'
"Bid scoring sheets are not a burden in an IT email sweep," Baumgartner said. "They are mandatory standalone financial records that prove contracts are awarded fairly. To date, the city has not produced a single bid scoring sheet." He also said the law department denied a request for a 2023 police workplace climate survey, arguing the document "was never used" and therefore was not a record.
The council agreed to give Baumgartner an additional three minutes after Councilman Wilansky moved to extend his time and a colleague seconded the motion. After the extension passed, Baumgartner continued, saying the record obstruction creates "massive unnecessary legal exposure for North Ridgeville" and that the pattern of denials extends to financial ledgers and police records.
Baumgartner asked the mayor to mandate comprehensive Ohio Sunshine Law and public-records training for all administrative staff, department heads and the law department itself. He said the strategy of withholding documents imposes legal and financial risk on the city and urged action to restore transparency.
Council did not take action on Baumgartner's specific training request during the meeting; the public-comment exchange concluded after the extended remarks and council moved on to administration reports and the regular agenda.
The council had previously moved to allow the extra time for Baumgartner by recorded motion; the motion to extend was made from the floor and carried by roll call.
