Campbell charter panel chairman threatens to sue if council breaks law

CAMPBELL

Campbell Law Director Brian Macala defended the legality of a closed-door executive session that occurred earlier this week, saying it involved discussion of an “imminent” lawsuit.

Before the regular public meeting Wednesday night, Council President George Levendis called an executive session to discuss “pending litigation” which he said related to proposed amendments to the city’s charter.

Ohio Open Meetings Law allows for closed meetings to occur in certain circumstances, one of which is to discuss “pending or imminent court action.”

The Ohio Attorney General’s Sunshine Manual states, “Court action is ‘pending’ if a lawsuit has been commenced and is ‘imminent’ if it is on the brink of commencing. Courts have concluded that threatened litigation is imminent and may be discussed in executive session.”

Macala said Thursday, when further questioned by The Vindicator, that he determined court action was “imminent” because of an oral threat of a lawsuit made by Attorney Michael Maillis, chair of the city’s Charter Review Commission. Macala said Maillis warned he might file a lawsuit if city council violated the law by not submitting the commission’s recommendations to the Mahoning County Board of Elections.

Read more about the situation in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.