Citizen budget committee violated open meetings law, Trumbull prosecutor says

Staff report

WARREN

The citizen Budget Review Committee selected by the Trumbull County commissioners to make recommendations on budgetary matters probably acted illegally by meeting in private.

The Trumbull County Prosecutor’s office released an opinion Wednesday saying the committee, which issued its seven pages of recommendations a week ago, probably violated the Ohio Open Meetings Act.

The county commissioners sought an opinion on the issue after a local newspaper brought the issue to it regarding a May 23 committee meeting.

The opinion says the newspaper made a public- records request of the committee before May 30 and the committee went into a closed meeting May 30 to discuss the request.

The opinion says under the Open Meetings Act, a body such as this can meet privately with its legal counsel to discuss a public records request, but the committee’s legal counsel was not present.

A committee member, Jeff Goodman, is an attorney, but the committee apparently did not appoint Goodman or anyone else to serve as its legal counsel, the opinion says.

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