Community activist extraordinaire, The Amazing Mr. Brian Ames, has been trying his best to ensure that politicians are following the Ohio Open Meetings Act.
Honesty, integrity and transparency are the keys to good governance, and an informed electorate.
LFC congratulates The Amazing Mr. Ames for keeping the local politicians honest, and ensuring that they follow the law. We are anxious to see how the Ohio Supreme Court rules in his latest case.
https://highlandcountypress.com/Content/In-The-News/In-The-News/Article/Local-governments-fear-open-meeting-bounty-hunters-/2/20/77328
https://www.courtnewsohio.gov/cases/2022/SCO/previews/0308-0309/0308-0309.asp#.YiIteujMKUl
Local governments fear open meeting ‘bounty hunters’
By Dan Trevas
Court News Ohio
By reviewing the minutes of local government meetings, a Portage County man discovers violations of Ohio’s Open Meeting Act. He wants a $500 fine for each infraction. Local governments are fighting his attempts, asserting the law wasn’t created to reward open meeting “bounty hunters.”
Brian Ames maintains he is owed thousands of dollars for uncovering repeat violations. The Ohio attorney general is on his side.
In Ames’ lawsuit against the Rootstown Township Board of Trustees, the attorney general submitted an amicus curiae brief, stating the Open Meetings Act (OMA) encourages citizens to sue to stop repeat violators because those bodies are “most in need of being caught and stopped.”
The state’s leading organizations representing local governments, including the County Commissioners Association of Ohio and the Ohio Municipal League, have joined the Rootstown trustees, disputing the notion that per-meeting fines can be “stacked.”
During oral arguments next week the Supreme Court of Ohio will consider whether multiple open meeting violations can be addressed with one injunction to stop noncompliance and a single $500 fine.
Ames’ brief states he became “concerned with the considerable financial risks” faced by Portage County taxpayers after he learned that in Putnam County, on the other side of the state, the County Board of Commissioners agreed to pay $6,500 in civil forfeiture, $497,000 in attorney fees, and $23,000 in court costs to the individuals who sued them for open meetings violations.
In 2017, Ames filed a lawsuit against the Rootstown Township Board of Trustees, alleging the trustees violated the open meetings law R.C. 121.22, 16 times between 2015 and 2016. He claimed the minutes reflected that the board went into executive session and met in private without appropriately moving into the private session through a roll-call vote. He cited the meeting minutes as evidence they didn’t follow the proper procedure.
The Portage County Common Pleas Court ruled in favor of the township, and Ames appealed to the Eleventh District. The Eleventh District agreed with Ames and found the board violated the law 14 times. The trial court was directed to impose an injunction on the township to prevent future violations.
At the trial court, Ames sought to collect $7,000 – $500 for each meeting violation and $1,584 in attorney fees. The trial court issued a single $500 fine and granted Ames $1,000 in attorney fees. The award was affirmed by the Eleventh District and Ames appealed to the Supreme Court of Ohio, which agreed to hear the case.
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Comments on the article:
The article fails to mention that the OTARMA provided lawyers defending Rootstown have racked up over $40,000 for defending them. Well over the amount at risk. As for fear, if you don’t speed through the school zone, you don’t get a ticket. Likewise, a public body that fully complies with the Open Meetings Act, will not be sued.
Brian M. Ames 3/3/2022 8:34:00 PM
Local governments need to follow Ohio laws. Secondly they need to post the local rules Thirdly they should not limit to say 30 minutes for the first speakers to sign up. Everyone needs their chance to speak. Failure to do so is limited free speech.
David A. Mayer 3/3/2022 2:07:00 PM
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Categories: Community Activism