Poland trustees adopt new public-records policy

By Bruce Walton | October 13, 2016 at 12:00a.m.

POLAND

Township trustees adopted a new public-records policy change effective immediately.

The public-records policy change mostly focuses on adding a public records manager by township administrator Jim Scharville, to help the public-records custodian, fiscal officer Paul Canter, with the handling of requests.

The policy should make the process more efficient, Trustee Eric Ungaro said at the trustees’ Wednesday meeting, by giving clear authority to Scharville to directly manage the employees to ensure a smoother records-request process.

Ungaro said there were times employees were disorganized and didn’t know who to report to with just the public records custodian, causing what he called a logjam.

The policy also updated copying costs. The cost for paper copies will be five cents per page, and the cost for electronic files downloaded to a compact disk is $1 per disk.

To find any other changes, trustees urged residents to review the most recent edition of the “Ohio Sunshine Laws Manual” on the Ohio Attorney General’s website at www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/yellowbook. The new policy also will be available at the township government building, 3339 Dobbins Road.

In other business, trustees announced that Stephanie Dyer, environmental program manager at Eastgate Regional Council of Governments, presented officials with a $5,000 mini-grant from the Ohio Environmental Education fund last week. The grant will fund the further education of Yellow Creek’s water quality.

That issue started last year when a resident called for action from local government officials after her grandson suffered a serious bacterial infection that family members believe was caused by exposure to creek water.

The grant will pay for watershed-awareness signs that will be posted at multiple, visible locations in the village and township.

The project also will include a classroom-education component as well as distribution of brochures available to the school district and the rest for the community.