In an emergency meeting Nov. 8, 2023, Clark County Development Director J. Alex Dietz shared that prior to the Oct. 5 vote, three board members had automatically vacated their seats due to missing three of six consecutive meetings. This brought the vote to 2-2, and the plat of land was approved by default when no further action was taken, Dietz said at the time.
Clark Shawnee Local Schools subsequently filed a civil lawsuit against the board and its members claiming a violation of open meetings laws.
The development has since gone forward and is on track to be completed over the next seven to 10 years.
Dietz said during the emergency meeting that allocated land for a residential and retail development was automatically approved because the resignations brought the previous majority vote to deny the land to 2-2, and with no action within 30 days, policy requires automatic approval.
Clark County Common Pleas Court visiting Judge Stephen Wolover said in a ruling that the initial Oct. 5 meeting denied approval and the subsequent retroactive approval “is without proper authority” after a “lack of accurate and prompt minutes” created a “misleading result” that violated open meetings laws and “should not have resulted in a certification to approve.”
In his ruling, Wolover wrote that the minutes were inaccurate and “obviously misleading,” with the final result of the plat consideration being an approval when the vote was to deny it. He said this was compounded by a delay in minutes being approved “until long after the ‘approval’ was accomplished.’”
Wolover granted an injunction, compelling defendants to pay all court costs, a civil forfeiture of $500 and “reasonable attorney fees.” The board is also ordered to following open meetings laws.
CEDA Attorney Andrew Frasier said Wednesday that the minutes were changed “to simply reflect the court’s order” and will not result in direct changes to the Melody Parks development.
Litigation in the case is ongoing and the board is following court decisions, Frasier said.
It’s unclear what impact, if any, the court decision will have on the future of the development.
Clark-Shawnee Local Schools Superintendent Brian Kuhn said earlier this month the district does not intend to prevent the development from moving forward. He said the district was “very pleased” with the ruling and intends to continue to ensure that “things are done the right way.”
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