Youngstown council needs refresher on Sunshine Laws

Just about 22 years ago to the day, Youngstown City Council was handed a court ruling that contained the following words: "The members of council are representatives of the people. They are transacting the city's business and disposing of taxpayers' money. It is only fair that when they hold a prearranged discussion of city business, the public has a right to know what is going on in the meeting."
The words were written by the late Judge Forrest J. Cavalier of the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court when on Aug. 3, 1982, he permanently barred members of council from conducting any official business without first giving notice to the press.
Judge Cavalier issued the ruling in a lawsuit filed by The Vindicator in February 1982 after council had prohibited its city hall reporter and other newsmen from attending informal meetings on that year's budget. The ruling also applied to all sessions of council committees.
Given our active role in making sure that the people's business was conducted in the open and in accordance with Ohio's Sunshine Laws, which the judge said clearly applied to charter cities such as Youngstown, we were dismayed to learn last week that five of the seven members of council -- a quorum by any definition -- spent about 40 minutes in private discussion about the city clerk's request to extend a leave of absence.
The fact that there was no public notice issued seems to us a direct violation of Judge Cavalier's ruling. Indeed, he acknowledged that lawmakers do need to confer, discuss or reach a consensus on pending or proposed legislation, but he wrote: "Such discussions of city business may not take the form of a prearranged meeting of a majority of the councilmen, unless such meeting is open to the press and public."
Last Monday's meeting was attended by Richard Atkinson, R-3rd, council president pro tem, who issued the invitations to his colleagues, Rufus Hudson, D-2nd, Carol Rimedio-Righetti, D-4th, Clarence Boles, D-6th, and Mark S. Memmer, D-7th. Councilman Michael Rapovy, D-5th, arrived after the session ended.
Hudson said he considered the meeting just an informal gathering.
Government business
How many times do we have to say it? There is no such thing as an informal gathering when elected officials are conducting government business. An extension of a leave of absence requested by the city clerk is official business.
If our view of Ohio's open meetings law seems overly strident, we would suggest that Youngstown lawmakers get a copy of a letter from Attorney General Jim Petro that was published recently in The Vindicator.
"The ability of each person to speak his or her mind about the policies and actions of government is one of the most treasured American rights, and for this reason, access to government-held information is as much an inalienable right as freedom of expression," Petro wrote.
In the letter, the attorney general announced that he and the Ohio Newspaper Association are co-sponsoring public seminars around the state to provide a forum for citizens, public officials and the press to discuss how to comply with the Sunshine Laws.
We urge the attorney general to make sure that the Mahoning Valley is selected as a site for one of the sessions. Youngstown City Council and other public entities in the region are in dire need of a refresher on what openness in government means.