LISBON — The Leetonia school board became the latest district named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by Mogadore resident Brian Ames for what he claims are alleged violations of the Open Meetings Act.

The complaint was filed Monday in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court by Barry Ward, an attorney for Ames.

The complaint made claims of violations during several meetings in 2023 and 2024, including: failure to conduct a roll call vote before holding an executive session or failure to record the vote in the minutes; failure to keep full and accurate minutes or alternatively, making decisions in executive session; exceeding the published purpose of a special meeting; failure to establish a rule for notification of meetings compliant with the Open Meetings Act; and holding special meetings without having first established a rule for notification of meetings compliant with the Open Meetings Act.

The lawsuit claimed “the board’s minutes generally do not include enough facts and information to permit the public to understand and appreciate the rationale behind its decisions,” alleging the minutes don’t reflect any discussion of motions.

A couple of examples noted in the court document specifically talked about hiring of personnel after executive sessions, with minutes reflecting no discussion after executive sessions when the board took formal action to hire the personnel. The lawsuit alleged the board made the decision to take formal action during executive sessions.

For the various alleged violations, Ames asked the court to compel the board to conduct a roll call vote before holding an executive session and record it in the minutes and issue injunctions to stop the board from allegedly voting or reaching a decision in executive session, enjoin the board to prepare full and accurate minutes of meetings and enjoin the board from discussing matters not included in notices for special meetings. He also requested the board be prohibited from holding special meetings until a rule is established for notification of such meetings.

As with the other lawsuits filed against the United Local, Crestview, Wellsville, Columbiana and East Liverpool schools boards and the Columbiana City Council, Ames requested payment of $500 for each violation and the payment of his attorney fees. All the lawsuits remain pending in Common Pleas Court.

Ames has filed similar lawsuits throughout the state against various governmental entities over what he perceives as violations of the Open Meetings Act, with several cases in the Ohio Supreme Court. All the local lawsuits allege numerous violations related to how the entities conduct their meetings.

The latest case was assigned to Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Bickerton, who’s also handling the case filed against the Crestview school board. Common Pleas Court Judge Scott Washam is handling the rest of the local complaints related to Ames.

A similar lawsuit was filed against the Columbiana County Board of Elections in 2022 which ended last year with a $3,500 settlement paid to Open Government Advocates, a non-profit in the care of Ames.

At the time of the settlement with the county Board of Elections, Board of Elections Chairman David Johnson called the complaint a nuisance lawsuit and indicated fighting the claim would have cost the board more money. The lawsuit claimed that the board failed to establish a rule for notification of its meetings during its organizational meeting in March 2021 and did not provide notice of the meetings that properly reached the general public, which Johnson and board members said was not the case.

mgreier@mojonews.com