‘Open meeting’ lawsuit targets Fowler | News, Sports, Jobs

WARREN — A Mogadore man who has already filed lawsuits against four Trumbull County governmental entities has now charged Fowler Township trustees with violating the state’s open meetings or sunshine law.

Attorneys for Brian Ames have charged that the Fowler Township board — namely trustees Jeff Davis, Steve Rudge and Todd Williams — entered certain executive sessions closed to the public without proper motion and also failed to take adequate meeting minutes at two of its sessions.

The lawsuit, prepared by Cincinnati attorneys Matt Miller-Novak and Steven C. Davis, was filed this month in Trumbull County Common Pleas court and assigned to Judge Peter J. Kontos, who did not set any hearings.

The docket shows copies of the complaint were mailed to each of the trustees through the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office.

The lawsuit claims that trustees motioned to enter executive session at meetings on Jan. 4, 2021, and Oct. 4, 2021, to discuss personnel. The lawsuit claims the open meeting law states “a public body must specifically identify which of the permissible employment matters the public body will discuss.” Thus, by merely stating they were to discuss personnel, these executive sessions by trustees were consequently unlawful, the lawsuit states.

Also the lawsuit states the trustees held special meetings on Jan. 10 and Jan. 12, 2021, to conduct interviews for full-time fire and EMS positions, and no record of any discussions was taken during these sessions, thus violating the open meetings law, the lawsuit states.

An email sent to Trustee Chairman Jeff Davis seeking comment was not answered. However, attorney Mark Finamore, who has done some legal work for Fowler township, told the newspaper Tuesday afternoon he did not know about the lawsuit against Fowler.

Finamore, who is already working two Ames lawsuits against Trumbull County entities, said the cases may hinge on a matter now before the Ohio Supreme Court about whether damages in these types of issues can be levied at one lump sum or $500 per violation.

Miller-Novak said this lawsuit against Fowler was filed because the Ohio Supreme Court ruled in a case 21 years ago it is unlawful for a public body to go into executive session by merely stating it was going to discuss “personnel.” The attorney also called his client Ames “a transparency advocate.”

OTHER LAWSUITS

Ames recently also filed lawsuits in Trumbull County against Champion, Kinsman and Johnston townships and the city of Hubbard, charging their governing bodies with violating the open meetings law. These lawsuits are making their way through the Common Pleas Court system.

In the Kinsman case, Judge Ronald J. Rice has reset the status conference from May 5 to June 8 in order to give the defense attorney more time to prepare their case.

Within the last month, Finamore, who is representing both Kinsman and Champion, responded to the litigation. In briefs filed April 25 and May 9, Finamore states the public bodies in Kinsman and Champion were, as far as they knew, acting within their rights provided by the Ohio sunshine law, which gives them authority to call for “executive sessions.”

Finamore calls these private sessions necessary “to facility candid discussions and preserve confidentiality of matters.” If these matters were discussed in public “at the time, would have a chilling effect on free discussion and require premature disclosure of information” that would be detrimental to both the public bodies and the public, Finamore argues.

Kontos was assigned the Champion case and has not yet set a status conference date.

A status conference for the Johnston case, assigned to Judge Andrew D. Logan’s court, is set via teleconference for Thursday, while the city of Hubbard’s case is also set for Logan’s court with a June 9 teleconference.

All the attorneys for the defense questioned Ames’ “standing” to file this action, but his attorney Miller-Novak states the open meetings law clearly states: “Any person may bring an action to enforce this section.”

“Mr. Ames is indeed a ‘person,’” Miller-Novak said.