CLEVELAND, Ohio - A public records administrator for the city claims in a sworn statement that information about how the city handles record requests and about how long it takes to turn over records is confidential - an assertion that an expert in public-records law describes as "laughable."

The statement by Kimberly Roberson, who has served as a public records administrator for nearly two decades, is included in a motion arguing that some information gathered in a lawsuit against the city was gathered unethically and should be suppressed.

Roberson, who is not a lawyer, contends in her sworn statement that the "confidential information" includes "how long it typically takes the City to respond to public records requests, the Department of Law's involvement with the requests, and the manner in which the City processes requests."

Attorney David Marburger, who co-authored a book on Ohio public records law in 2011, said state laws that require government records be open to the public would not provide an exemption for the information cited by Roberson.

Material involving conversations between city lawyers and clients could be confidential, Marburger said. But a record showing how long it takes the city to respond to a request or how it responds to requests would not be confidential.

"That's laughable," Marburger said. "This is just methodology."

A spokesman for the city declined to comment when asked about Roberson's statement, citing a policy of not speaking about ongoing litigation.

Law Director Barbara Langhenry later said that she would not agree that all the information was confidential. The records, though, include some notes from attorneys and communications with clients that she would defend as private.

What's the lawsuit about?

Roberson's sworn statement was submitted to a U.S. District Court last week by lawyers defending the city against a lawsuit filed by Sean DeCrane, a former battalion chief with the city fire department.

Assistant Safety Director Edward Eckart and two officers from the Public Safety Department's Office of Integrity Control, James Votypka and Christopher Chumita, also are named as defendants.

DeCrane sued the city in 2016 shortly after leaving the fire department.

He contends in his lawsuit that the city passed him over for promotions and targeted him for retaliation based on a mistaken belief that in 2013 he had leaked embarrassing information about then-Fire Chief Daryl McGinnis.

Lawyers for Zashin & Rich, the firm assisting the city on the case, asked the court to suppress some information collected by The Chandra Law Firm on behalf of DeCrane.

Zashin & Rich also asked the federal judge to remove the Chandra firm from the case.

Among the claims the lawyers for Cleveland make is that the Chandra firm's intern was exposed to confidential materials during a previous internship in Cleveland's Law Department and that his participation in the DeCrane case is unethical.

The materials Roberson described as confidential were among the materials that the intern would have had access to, Roberson testified.

Subodh Chandra, the founder of the firm and a former city law director, has said it can prove that the allegations of improper behavior are not true. The judge has yet to rule on the motion.

Why is Roberson's statement significant?

Ohio law requires that public records be "promptly prepared and made available for inspection to any person at all reasonable times during regular business hours." Copies must be provided "within a reasonable period of time."

A coalition of news organizations, including cleveland.com, has contemplated suing the city, contending that it is obstructing state law through its notoriously slow response to records requests.

Mayor Frank Jackson, in turn, publicly pledged last fall to improve the way his administration deals with records requests.

As part of that pledge, the city launched a records-management system. The system, GovQA, made accessible last November through the city's website, allows records requests to be filed through an online portal. People making requests can track the city's progress toward providing public documents and receive updates via email.

But that online system also has sparked complaints. For example, the city took nearly a month to provide a copy of a simple City Hall phone list that cleveland.com requested through the portal in December.