Picture a council member texting a colleague about an upcoming zoning vote while making dinner at home. It feels private, yet that message may belong to the public as much as one typed on a city computer. In Ohio, that distinction has little to do with which phone you hold. Here is what local officials should know before hitting send.
What counts as a public record in Ohio
Ohio’s public records law does not care whether a message sits on a city server or a personal cell phone. Instead, how the law defines records focuses on content and function, not the device involved. If a text, email or voicemail documents the decisions, policies or daily operations of a public office, it generally qualifies as a public record.
There is a limit. Purely personal messages unrelated to government business fall outside the definition. A note to your spouse about weekend plans is not a public record just because you sit on a board. What matters is the subject, not where the message lives.
Why a personal phone offers no shield
You might assume that using a private device keeps your work messages out of reach. Ohio courts have rejected that idea, treating work-related texts and emails the same way whether they come from a government account or a personal one. A public records request can still reach them.
Deleting the messages does not help either. Erasing public records outside an approved retention schedule is its own violation. Because these situations move fast, public bodies often turn to attorneys who handle municipal legal matters before a dispute develops.
Habits that keep public business transparent
A few simple practices go a long way. Keep official conversations on official channels, which keeps records easy to find and preserve. Avoid messaging apps that erase content automatically, such as Signal, WhatsApp and Snapchat, which the state’s Sunshine Laws manual now warns against for public business. If work lands on your personal phone, forward a copy you can keep.
Training helps too. Ohio requires elected officials or their designees to complete open-government training at least once each term, and those free sessions explain how the rules work.
What officials can do before the next request
The safest assumption is that any message about city business could become public, whatever phone sent it. That does not mean every text is a record, but guessing wrong risks both compliance and public trust. The clearest way to stay ahead is a written communications policy naming which channels officials should use and how to preserve what they send. Adopting that policy now and revisiting it as technology shifts gives officials confidence long before anyone files a request.
