By Brian Massie, A Watchman on the Wall
On Thursday, August 22, 2024 I was early for the Lake County Commissioners’ meeting. I met the Lake County Republican Chairman, Dale Fellows, in the elevator, and was told that he was going to the 250 America meeting. For those unaware, there will be a County wide celebration of 250th anniversary marking the founding of our great country in 1776.
The Commissioners established this committee to coordinate the celebration of the 250th anniversary.
We are concerned that since all three Commissioners attended the meeting and the committee was established by the Commissioners, the committee is a public body. Those facts activate Section 121.22 of the Ohio Revised Code.
What is a public body?
- A “public body” is any decision-making body at any level of government. That might include any committees or subcommittees of a public body, even if these committees do not make the final decision of the public body.
What qualifies as a “meeting”?
- A “meeting” is a prearranged gathering of a majority of the members of the public body who are discussing or deliberating public business.
- The Open Meetings Act applies to more than “meetings” held in the traditional sense of the word – that is, those held in a meeting room with the public body at the front addressing the public. Instead, the OMA asks whether the majority of the members have held or will hold a prearranged discussion or deliberation of public business. If the answer is “yes,” the OMA applies to those discussions or deliberations and the public body must – or should have – complied with the act.
- If, for example, members of a public body are discussing public business via email or text, a court could – and likely would – consider that to be a “meeting,” subject to the legal standards of the OMA. A public body could be liable for an OMA violation if it uses such electronic communications to discuss or deliberate public business outside of a traditional public meeting. Further, any of the communications would be public record under Ohio’s Public Records Act.
- A public body cannot circumvent the Open Meetings Act by holding back-to-back or serial meetings attended by fewer than a majority of its members, with the same topics of public business discussed at each. Courts will find that such deliberate “round-robin” meetings violate the OMA.
- Simply, a court will not put form over substance. It will look at whether the conduct of the members of the public body meets the definition of a “meeting” under the OMA. If it did and the public body did not comply with the OMA, the public body could be liable for violating its requirements.
What must a public body do if the Open Meetings Act applies?
- Notice: A public body must give notice of its meeting. For a regular meeting, the notice must include the time and place of the meeting. For a special or emergency meeting, the notice must include the time, place and purpose of the meeting.
- Openness: The meeting must be open to the public to attend in-person. Voting by secret ballot and whispering or texting about public business is also prohibited by the “openness” requirement.
- Minutes: A public body must promptly prepare, file and maintain meeting minutes and make them available to the public.
Here is a very short edited video that LFC recorded documenting that all three Commissioners attended the meeting. There was no notice given to the citizens about this public meeting.
Lake County officials seem to lose sight of the average citizen’s right to attend public meetings. Prosecutor Coulson admitted at a Commissioners’ meeting that they failed to notify the citizens about the Corrections Board meeting.
As President of the Commissioners’ Board, John Plecnik, must remember to follow ORC 121.22 and notify the citizens about all of the 250 American meetings, and be sure meeting minutes are taken.
Categories: Community Activism, Lake County Politics