CLEVELAND, Ohio — A City Hall employee’s downloads of thousands of public records sparked a bitter clash between Mayor Justin Bibb and Council President Blaine Griffin. So, what was in those files?

Perhaps the better question is, what wasn’t? A newly released list shows that council aide Steven Rys downloaded a slew of different public records, including emails, contracts, police reports, subpoenas and requests sent to media outlets.

Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer obtained, through a records request, a list of more than 1,900 file names that Rys had downloaded since 2021. But the list does not describe each document, and some were downloaded multiple times.

City Hall has since hired Littler Mendelson to review the issue and determine if Rys did anything improper, Bibb spokesperson

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