Newspaper threatens legal action against Waverly Village Council for alleged violation of Open Meetings Act
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A southern Ohio newspaper has threatened legal action against a Pike County municipality for an alleged "blatant violation of the Ohio Open Meetings Act."
According to a report from The Chillicothe Gazette, the newspaper's legal counsel has sent a letter to the Waverly Village Council President Greg Kempton asking that it revise its public committee meeting policies.
"The letter came after an Aug. 16 Waverly Village Council meeting in which an ordinance to increase sewer fees was read before council at its second reading. During the regular council meeting, members of the Public Service Committee discussed their findings from an earlier, private committee meeting," according to the Gazette.
Kempton told the Gazette that he had received a verbal opinion from the Ohio Attorney General's Office and he does not believe that Ohio open meeting laws apply to village committee, and he does not require the committees to notify the public or to keep records. However, he said that a member of the public would have been allowed access to the meeting had they been in attendance.
"Still, the Gazette argues the way the item was brought to council is in conflict with Ohio Revised Code 121.22. The code defines "any committee or subcommittee of a (public body)" as a public body subject to open meetings laws. Those open meetings laws require the entity to give notice of the meeting and requires it be conducted in a public place," the newspaper wrote.
The Gazette's legal counsel said that that "because the committee met to discuss the creation and adoption of a sewer rate increase, it qualifies as a public meeting under Ohio's open meetings laws."
In the letter to Kempton, "the remedy for an open meetings violation is settled through the filing of an injunction compelling the village to comply with the law and forcing the village to repeal the sewer rate ordinance, as it was drafted through an illegal process."
Gazette Managing Editor Mike Throne said the primary goal is to get Waverly to bring its procedures into compliance, not to force a court battle.
"The goal is simply to allow the public, the residents of Waverly, to have a say in their government, and by failing to notify the public about when these committee meetings are happening, they're not supplying Waverly residents with the ability to comment and challenge what their government does," Throne said. "All we're looking for is for Waverly to change their process. We're not hoping to take further action. This is not about us. This is about the public."
A southern Ohio newspaper has threatened legal action against a Pike County municipality for an alleged "blatant violation of the Ohio Open Meetings Act."
According to a report from The Chillicothe Gazette, the newspaper's legal counsel has sent a letter to the Waverly Village Council President Greg Kempton asking that it revise its public committee meeting policies.
"The letter came after an Aug. 16 Waverly Village Council meeting in which an ordinance to increase sewer fees was read before council at its second reading. During the regular council meeting, members of the Public Service Committee discussed their findings from an earlier, private committee meeting," according to the Gazette.
Kempton told the Gazette that he had received a verbal opinion from the Ohio Attorney General's Office and he does not believe that Ohio open meeting laws apply to village committee, and he does not require the committees to notify the public or to keep records. However, he said that a member of the public would have been allowed access to the meeting had they been in attendance.
"Still, the Gazette argues the way the item was brought to council is in conflict with Ohio Revised Code 121.22. The code defines "any committee or subcommittee of a (public body)" as a public body subject to open meetings laws. Those open meetings laws require the entity to give notice of the meeting and requires it be conducted in a public place," the newspaper wrote.
The Gazette's legal counsel said that that "because the committee met to discuss the creation and adoption of a sewer rate increase, it qualifies as a public meeting under Ohio's open meetings laws."
In the letter to Kempton, "the remedy for an open meetings violation is settled through the filing of an injunction compelling the village to comply with the law and forcing the village to repeal the sewer rate ordinance, as it was drafted through an illegal process."
Gazette Managing Editor Mike Throne said the primary goal is to get Waverly to bring its procedures into compliance, not to force a court battle.
"The goal is simply to allow the public, the residents of Waverly, to have a say in their government, and by failing to notify the public about when these committee meetings are happening, they're not supplying Waverly residents with the ability to comment and challenge what their government does," Throne said. "All we're looking for is for Waverly to change their process. We're not hoping to take further action. This is not about us. This is about the public."