By Brian Massie, A Watchman on the Wall
We have been asked to take a video recording of a meeting between a citizen and the State Board of Tax Appeals. There appears to be some confusion on whether or not we can record a video of the meeting. We have been told that the Board of Tax Appeal only permits an audio recording of the meetings with citizens.
We reached out to some experts on Ohio’s Open Meeting Act and was told to review the McVey v Carthage Twp. Trustees, 2005-Ohio-2869 case. Here is the legal ruling on the case by the Fourth Appellate District:
From the Court of Appeals ruling we find:
“The trial court concluded that the facts of the case were not in dispute. The Trustees prohibited videotaping at the March meeting but later rescinded the prohibition. Relying on our decision in Kline v. Davis, Lawrence App. Nos. 00CA32 &
01CA13, 2001-Ohio-2625, the court held that a public body may not absolutely prohibit the video recording of its meetings, though it may adopt reasonable regulations. The court concluded that the Trustees violated R.C. 121.22 by banning videotaping and the Trustees’ reversal of their unlawful decision was irrelevant.”
“The court granted McVey’s summary judgment motion and denied the Trustees’. The court granted an injunction compelling the Trustees to comply with R.C. 121.22 and ordered them to pay a civil forfeiture of $500 to McVey, as well as court costs.”
Stay tuned…We will update our readers after the scheduled Board of Tax Appeal hearing in February.
Categories: Community Activism, Real Estate Taxes