Three members of the Geauga County Republican Party have sued the party’s central committee and Chairwoman Nancy McArthur over alleged violations of Ohio’s open meeting law.
Auburn Township residents Diane and Thomas Jones, and Jimmy Lee Holden — who lists the Jones’s home address as his own — filed a complaint in the Geauga County Court of Common Pleas on Aug. 31 alleging McArthur violated state law when she “unilaterally declared” the Geauga County Republican Party Central Committee’s Aug. 15 meeting would be “closed.”
The committee then broke the law when it “adjourned to executive session to consider the amendment of its bylaws,” they claim.
The Joneses and Holden — who also claim they were removed from the meeting against their will — are asking Judge Forrest Burt, who was assigned the case, to invalidate the appointment of six new central committee members that took place during the Aug. 15 meeting. They are also asking the court to order the committee not to violate state open meeting laws in the future.
The Joneses directed all questions to their attorney, Mark S. O’Brien, a sole practitioner in Cleveland Heights. A voicemail message left on the answering machine of the Law Offices of Mark S. O’Brien was not returned as of deadline.
There actually were only five members elected to fill vacancies at the meeting, McArthur told the Geauga County Maple Leaf Tuesday. One person, party secretary Jane Zimmerman, was voted in on executive committee.
The five members elected to the central committee were Kathy Blair (Newbury B), Carolyn Concilla (Chester F), Erin Knife (Aquilla), Nancy Garrison (Bainbridge D) and Celesta Mullins (Middlefield Village A).
The purpose of the central committee is to “further the cause of the Republican Party in Geauga County” and to support Republican “policies, programs and candidates on the national, state and local levels,” according the party bylaws.
The bylaws further provide that members are elected from each election precinct — 78 — in the county and any vacancies are filled by a vote of committee members, following the committee chairperson’s recommendations.
The five new members were presented as a slate of candidates and were voted in by a vote of 30-17, Zimmerman told the Maple Leaf.
More members were present at the beginning of the meeting but left after roll call, she added. Another member abstained from voting.
McArthur said the Aug. 15 meeting, held in the School Building at the county fairgrounds in Burton, was a “members only” meeting.
“By law, we are required to send out a mailed notice to central and executive committee members,” she said Tuesday. “And on that notice, it said that it was a members only meeting. It didn’t say closed.”
McArthur explained the only people who are mailed those notices are committee members.
The topic to be discussed at the meeting was “bylaws committee recommendations,” according to the meeting notice.
“For the purpose of this meeting, we wanted to discuss our bylaws and we wanted to secure a place to talk amongst ourselves without having other outside people there,” she said.
“Everybody knew it and they also got an email about it as a reminder,” she said. “And the email also said it was a members only meeting.”
Added McArthur, “No one ever called me or asked me about it, or anything like that, ahead of time.”
Prior to the start of the regular meeting, Don Rice, executive director of the Geauga County Board of Developmental Disabilities, spoke to those in attendance about his agency’s five-year, 1-mill additional tax levy appearing on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.
McArthur explained Rice had contacted her earlier about speaking to the group and she invited him to come and talk before the 9:30 a.m. meeting began.
“I explained to him our meeting is going to start at 9:30 and you can speak before that, and then at that time it’s going to be a members only meeting.”
After Rice spoke, McArthur called the central committee’s regular meeting to order and asked all non-members in attendance to leave.
Non-members included the Joneses, Holden, Mary Ruth Shumway, president of the Geauga Park District Board of Commissioners, and Burton Township Trustee Jim Dvorak.
Dvorak said Tuesday he showed up late and never actually went into the meeting. He added he had no issue with it being a members only meeting.
McArthur said she knew the Joneses were in the room because she was standing at the door when they came in.
“I informed them that it was a members only meeting and I said, ‘You’re welcome to stay and listen to Don Rice until 9:30, at which time it will be a members only meeting,’” said McArthur. “They acted very surprised, but I said it’s a members only meeting. So they knew when they came in the room.”
At 9:30 a.m., McArthur said she called the regular meeting to order and asked everyone who was a non-member to leave.
“Some did and some didn’t,” she explained, adding the Joneses were stationed in the back of the room with their video camera along with several committee members.
“So, I reiterated to them specifically that it was members only and they still did not leave,” McArthur said. “I then walked to the back of the room and spoke with Mrs. Jones, in person, and reminded her of the fact that it was a members only meeting. I said you all need to leave now.”
The Joneses objected and complained there were other people in the room who were non-members and allowed to stay.
“I said, ‘Yes, but they’re on the agenda,” McArthur said. “I said they were sent a notice as were the other members, and so they were invited to the meeting and they are on the agenda.”
The Joneses still would not leave, McArthur said, so she spoke to the sergeant at arms appointed for the meeting, Greg Combs, and asked him to escort them out of the room.
After several more minutes, the Joneses and several others finally left the room, she said.
Contrary to allegations in the complaint, McArthur said there was not an “executive session” held during the meeting.
In addition, McArthur said committee meetings at which internal party business is conducted are not subject to Ohio’s open meeting law and member-only meetings are permitted.
McArthur further said no committee member voiced an objection to her about the meeting being members only.
Editor’s Note: According to records obtained from the Geauga County Auditor’s Office, the Jones’s attorney, Mark S. O’Brien, has been appointed by Geauga County Juvenile Court Judge Tim Grendell to handle cases in his court. From January 1, 2013, to the present, O’Brien has been paid $3,335 in legal fees for contracted services to Grendell’s court.