Medina County auditor explains why public records were found in a recycle bin
Auditor says it should’ve been handled differently
MEDINA, Ohio (WOIO) - A woman says she witnessed Medina County employees dumping files in a public recycle bin Tuesday afternoon. 19 News spoke with the Medina County auditor, Mike Kovack, who says the files are public records but admits they could’ve been disposed of any other way.
The woman posted a picture of Medina County employees at the public dumpster in the parking lot of Habitat for Humanity. Kovack says he stopped them as soon as he heard of it.
He says the files are appraisal records, some of which are at least six years old.
“It is our policy to shred it, this was kind of an unusual situation because we’re moving offices, so we kind of tripped over our own protocol,” said Kovack.
Kovack tells 19 News the files have names, addresses, and home values but no social security numbers or other sensitive information.
“You can never guarantee anything but everything we have, and these are all appraisal records, so everything we have with appraisal records is public records,” added Kovack.
He says all of the files can be accessed through the county’s website but understands people’s concerns. He tells 19 News he was out of the office when the decision was made.
Kovack explained, “I was vaguely aware of it. It was one of the things where I was gone, and actually, the funny thing is they checked with Medina County recycling because we have a recycling bin, and it gets picked up, but we had too much stuff.”
Kovack admits it should’ve been handled differently. He says this was the first round of paperwork to be recycled and that everything will be shredded moving forward.
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