[Cite as State ex rel. Bristow v. Frary & Sheldon, 2018-Ohio-3178.]

COURT OF APPEALS 

RICHLAND COUNTY, OHIO 

FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT 

STATE OF OHIO, EX REL : JUDGES: 

LONNY BRISTOW : 

 : Hon. John W. Wise, P.J. 

 Relator : Hon. Patricia A. Delaney, J. 

 : Hon. Earle E. Wise Jr., J. 

-vs- : 

 : 

LINDA FRARY : Case No. 18CA29 

Richland County Clerk of Courts : 

 : 

and : 

 : 

STEVE SHELDON : 

Richland County Sheriff : 

 : 

 : 

 Respondents : O P I N I O N 

CHARACTER OF PROCEEDING: Writ of Mandamus 

JUDGMENT: Dismissed 

DATE OF JUDGMENT: August 8, 2018 

APPEARANCES: 

For Relator: For Respondent: 

Lonny Bristow Gary D. Bishop 

P.O. Box 1316 Richland County Prosecuting Attorney 

Wooster, Ohio 44691 

 Harrison L. Crumrine 

 Assistant Prosecuting Attorney 

 38 South Park Street 

 Mansfield, Ohio 44902 
Delaney, P.J. 

{¶1} Relator has filed a Petition for Writ of Mandamus requesting this Court 

order Respondents to comply with Ohio Revised Code Section 2335.30. Respondents 

have filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted. 

We converted the motion to a motion for summary judgment pursuant to Civ.R. 12(B). 

FACTS 

{¶2} Revised Code Section 2335.30 provides, 

Within three months after being elected or appointed to office, each county 

officer shall make and post, in a conspicuous place in his office, for the 

inspection by all persons who have business in his office, a table of the fees to 

which he is entitled. 

{¶3} Relator visited Respondents’ offices and could not locate a table of fees 

posted pursuant to R.C. 2335.30. Respondents provided affidavits in support of their 

motion to dismiss stating the tables of fees have been posted. 

{¶4} Respondent Frary’s affidavit indicates she placed the table of fees on a 

bulletin board across from the clerk’s office. While the affidavit provided by Respondent 

Sheldon’s office indicates the table of fees has been placed “in a binder that is marked 

on the cover ‘Richland County Sheriff’s Office Records Policy & Fee Schedule,’ which is 

located in a conspicuous place on the front counter of the Sheriff’s Office’s Records and 

Administration Office. . .”, Relator takes issue with the manner in which Respondent 

Sheldon posted the table. Relator argues Respondent Sheldon has not complied with 

the statute because the table of fees was not “posted.” 
MANDAMUS 

{¶5} To be entitled to extraordinary relief in mandamus, [a relator] must establish 

a clear legal right to the requested relief, a clear legal duty on the part of [a respondent] 

to provide it, and the lack of an adequate remedy in the ordinary course of the law. State 

ex rel. Waters v. Spaeth, 131 Ohio St.3d 55, 2012–Ohio–69, 960 N.E.2d 452, ¶ 6. 

{¶6} The purpose of the statute is to provide notice to the public of the fees the 

county office can collect. The significance of the statute is the notice to the public and 

not the manner in which the notice is provided. 

{¶7} Relator appears to argue the notice must be hanging in the office in a 

vertical fashion, however, one definition of the verb post is to “display (a notice) in a 

public place.” Google Dictionary, 

https://www.google.com/search?q=definition+of+post&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefoxb-1 (July 9, 2018). 

 {¶8} Respondent Sheldon has complied with the spirit and intent of the statute 

by displaying the table in a labeled binder in a conspicuous location for the public to 

view. Likewise, Respondent Frary has complied with the statute by placing the table on 

a bulletin board in the hallway across from the clerk’s counter. 

{¶9} The Supreme Court has held mandamus will not issue where the 

requested relief has been obtained, “Neither procedendo nor mandamus will compel the 

performance of a duty that has already been performed.” State ex rel. Kreps v. 

Christiansen (2000), 88 Ohio St.3d 313, 318, 725 N.E.2d 663, 668. 
 {¶10} Because Respondents have already complied with the statute, the 

complaint for writ of mandamus is dismissed as moot. 

By: Delaney, J. 

J. Wise, P.J. and 

E. Wise Jr., J. concur.