"LAWYERS IN LOVE" jackson browne

*I can't keep up with what's been going on


Lucky for me I have friends. When I mentioned that this circus that city council executive sessions didn't seem legally correct well I got some e-mails that will take a couple of posts to show you.

First we have a Law Director he works for the City? Does he work for Council or the City Manager?

My best guess is that Mr. Carson has already looked into an attorney to protect his interests? I don't know but it would seem wise.

Now this must have happened before? somewhere in Ohio and here is the story I got.

The Chronicle/Telegram

Story on April 10, 2015  By Anna Merriman

Oberlin Council switches meeting from private to public

OBERLIN- Oberlin City Council members voted Monday to hold an executive session to discuss City Manager  Eric Norenberg's employment- but that decision may have been legally questionable.

After the City's Law Director cautioned that discussion did not justify an executive session under state law. Council members by  a 6-1 vote decided to cancel the closed session and opt instead for a public work session Thursday to review the 2015 goals for Norenberg.

On Monday, Council Member Sharon Pearson had made a motion to hold an executive session, which isn't open to the public, later in the week to discuss the yearly goals  for the city manager.

However, she changed the wording of the motion Monday after Law Director Jon Clark said that it was illegal to discuss the City Manager goals in private session, instead, Pearson proposed a more  general motion- to assess Norenberg's  employment. The motion passed in a 4-3 vote Monday.

Had the meeting happened, it would have been the seventh executive session Council members have held to discuss Norenberg's employment after he received poor evaluations from four Council members including Bryan Burgess, Kristin Peterson, Elizabeth Meadows and Ron Rimbert.

But the proposed executive session didn't sit well with Law Director Clark, who outlined his objections at a special public meeting Thursday night.

"I think there's some risk given that it's clear that the purpose of the executive session  would be to consider the purpose of the goals (for the city manager)." Clark said , reiterating the fact that discussing goals for the city manager in a private meeting wouldn't be legal under the Ohio Revised Code. "I don't think that's an appropriate basis to adjourn to executive session."

Some Council members disagreed.

"We weren't finished (with executive session) because we weren't done finalizing the evaluation."  Meadows said, referencing the previous six executive sessions Council members held to discuss Norenberg's employment and evaluation.

"We can label it anything we want... but it was out there and absolutely clear that what we were going to do was talk about the goals." Council Vice President Sharon Soucy said referencing  Pearson's motion Monday night. "That may be what we want to do, but not what we're able to do based on the (Ohio Revised) code.

"Based on the interpretation of the code," Meadows retorted, going on to say that the discussion seems like a "very convoluted way" to prevent  executive session from happening.

Council members continued to disagree on the specifics of the public work session next week, including whether the public should be allowed to speak.

"I don't ever remember having public comment shut down at a public work session," Council President Scott Broadwell said, proposing the idea of reserving time at the end of the meeting to let audience speak.

Burgess, who said he was not in support of allowing public comment during the session, suggested choosing someone  other than Broadwell to oversee the meeting.

"We could certainly appoint someone to preside over the meeting that would be a little more objective." Burgess  said to Broadwell.

Council  did not vote on Burgess's suggestion or on whether they would allow public comment at the meeting next week.

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So did we learn anything? Well there is reference to the Ohio Revised Code about City Managers, also that it is reasonable to expect public comment at a City Council workshop.
Mostly we learned that council's have a tendency to maybe abuse executive sessions.
Do these council people not want to hear public comment, or do they just want to get home?
We learned the evaluations can and should be made public as well as the vote to fire a city manager.

Tread  carefully Council your moves are being watched. And I for one have no problem sending a letter to the Ohio Attorney General to look into some of your procedure's. ( For that matter probably  neither would Mr. Carson's attorney)



Veterans Day 2015

Honor, Respect, Gratitude

But mostly the Privilege of knowing some of you.  Thank-You and God Bless You