Is Cleveland City Council Breaking the Ohio Sunshine Laws?

By Ron Calhoun

Ohio’s “Sunshine Laws” give guidelines for public access to government records and meetings (The Ohio Open Meetings Act ). In short, “the Ohio Open Meetings Act requires public bodies in Ohio to take official action and conduct all deliberations upon official business ONLY in open meetings where the public may attend and observe.” Is the Cleveland City Council conducting meetings outside of what the Ohio Sunshine Laws allow, and calling the meetings a caucus, giving specificity to the topics, discussing only specific topic(s), taking detailed notes and publishing the conclusion of the discussion?

The Sunshine Laws are specific in the requirements to conduct public meetings no matter what a public body labels the meeting. The following information is a summary from the Ohio Sunshine Laws open government resource manual posted on the Ohio Attorney General’s Office website.  Since January, Cleveland City Council members have held monthly caucus (special) meetings. Are their agendas and meeting minutes available? Definitions are essential to understanding and engagement.

 What is a “Meeting?”

A “meeting” is (1) a prearranged gathering (2) of a majority of the members of the public body (3) who are discussing or deliberating public business.  A meeting does not have to be called a “meeting” for the Open Meetings Act (OMA) requirements to apply—if the three elements given are present, the OMA requirements apply even if the gathering is called a “work session,” “retreat,” etc. What is a “Public Body?”

A “public body” is a decision-making body at any level of government.  A public body may include the committees or subcommittees of a public body, even if these committees do not make the final decisions of the public body.

What are the “Requirements?”

There are many requirements and regulations to the Ohio Sunshine Laws. The Open Meetings Act requires public bodies in Ohio to take official action and conduct all deliberations upon official business only in open meetings where the public may attend and observe. Public bodies must provide advance notice to the public indicating when and where each meeting will take place and, in the case of special meetings, the specific topics that the public body will discuss. The public body must take full and accurate minutes of all meetings and make these minutes available to the public, except in the case of permissible executive sessions.

 Meetings and Attendance 

• Members of a public body may hold and attend public meetings and hearings by teleconference, video conference, or other electronic means.

• To establish a quorum of the public body and to vote, any member of a public body who participates virtually/electronically is considered present as if he or she were present in person.

• All actions taken in a virtual/electronic meeting held during the time period covered by H.B. 51 have the same effect as if they were conducted during an in-person meeting.

 Notice 

• Public bodies must continue to provide notice to the public of their meetings.  Public bodies conducting virtual/electronic meetings or hearings are required to provide public notice of the meeting or hearing at least 24 hours in advance.

• Public bodies must notify the public, media that have requested notification, and parties required to be notified of a hearing by reasonable methods.

• In the event of an emergency requiring immediate official action, public bodies may conduct emergency public meetings virtually/electronically by giving notice as soon as it is practicable to do so.

• Notice must include the time, location, and manner in which the meeting or hearing will be conducted. 

 Public Access

• Public bodies must provide public access to any virtual/electronic meeting or hearing that the public would otherwise be entitled to attend.

• Access can be provided through live streaming, local radio, television, cable, public access channels, call-in information for a teleconference, or other similar electronic means.

• Public bodies must ensure that the public is able to hear discussions and deliberations, and the votes of all members of the body participating, whether a member is doing so in-person or virtually/electronically.

• For hearings, public bodies must establish a means, through the use of electronic equipment widely available to the general public, to converse with witnesses and receive documentary testimony and physical evidence.

• As has always been the law, public bodies are not required to afford citizens the right of “public speech” during public meetings. However, as to public hearings, public bodies must provide an electronic mechanism for the provision of public input and interaction.

What are the duties of a public body if the OMA applies?  

• A public body must give appropriate notice of its meetings.

  • For regular meetings, notice must include the time and place of the meeting.  For all other meetings—special and emergency meetings—notice must include the time, place, and purpose of the meeting.

• A public body must make all of its meetings open to the public at all times.

  • Secret ballots, whispering of public business, and serial meetings or discussions are all prohibited under the openness requirement.

• A public body must keep and maintain meeting minutes.

  • Minutes must be promptly prepared, filed, maintained, and open to the public.  Meeting minutes do not need to be verbatim transcripts but must have enough detail to allow the public to understand and appreciate the rationale behind a public body’s decisions.

Note: This information is current as of the publication of this manual and is subject to change. H.B. 51, by its terms, is effective until June 30, 2022.  Legal counsel should be consulted if there is any uncertainty about whether these changes apply.