Cleveland City Hall security flaw left confidential files open to hundreds of employees

CLEVELAND, Ohio — What began as a City Hall dustup over a council aide’s file downloads has exposed something bigger: a security gap that let hundreds of Cleveland employees — from animal control workers to top officials — have access confidential records, a cleveland.com analysis found.

The findings shed new light on the actions of Steven Rys , a longtime City Council employee whose conduct became part of a broader feud between Mayor Justin Bibb’s cabinet members and Council President Blaine Griffin.

Rys used his access to Cleveland’s public records database to download more than 2,000 files, including hundreds of confidential emails about a controversial development project and an unredacted version of a councilman’s personnel file.

The dispute eventually devolved into an all-out