Ohio treasurer attends 1st deposit-board meeting

COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel has attended his first meeting of a board he chairs that handles billions of Ohio’s deposits.

The first-term Republican previously had not attended any of the monthly meetings of the group, which includes Auditor Dave Yost and Attorney General Mike DeWine.

The Board of Deposit met today in Columbus to designate which banks and financial institutions will have state deposits.

Mandel told The Associated Press that bank designations happen once every two years, and he was attending the meeting because it’s one of the board’s most-important actions.

Mandel’s spokesman says he sends a top-notch chief financial officer to the meetings in his place.

Sending a designee has been common practice among his modern-day predecessors, but Mandel had been unique for not attending a meeting.