The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District says a lawsuit filed against it and the MWCD Conservancy Court recently by a Massillon woman should be dismissed since the restrictions of law it was alleged to have violated do not apply to the Conservancy Court.
According to the lawsuit filed by N. Kathryn Walker in Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court last week, the Conservancy Court was in violation of the Ohio open meetings law when it adjourned to deliberations during Court sessions over the past two years.
However, in a motion to dismiss the lawsuit that was filed by MWCD legal counsel James J. Pringle, the Conservancy District provides details about why the Ohio open meetings law does not apply to the Conservancy Court. The Conservancy Court, which consists of one common pleas court judge from each of the 18 counties of jurisdiction in the MWCD region, functions as a court of common pleas. As a court, it is not subject to the Ohio open meetings law, or Sunshine Law, as it is commonly referred to, said Pringle.
“It is very clear under Ohio law what units of government are subject to the Open Meetings law and Courts of Common Pleas are not included,” Pringle said. “Courts do not deliberate in public. It is long settled that a conservancy court is acting as a Court of Common Pleas when it fulfills its duties under the Conservancy Act.”
The MWCD requested in its motion that the lawsuit be dismissed.
In the lawsuit, filed by Massillon attorney William E. Walker, the son of N. Kathryn Walker, the Walkers claim that the alleged violations of law should result in the invalidation of any action taken by the Court related to the subjects discussed in the deliberations held by the MWCD Conservancy Court during sessions in June 2005 and in January and February of 2006.
During the Court sessions, discussions were held and action was taken by the Court related to the MWCD’s 20-year, $270-million plan for maintenance and improvements to the system of flood-reduction and water conservation reservoirs and dams in the Muskingum River Watershed. The MWCD has proposed an assessment of property owners in the watershed to fund the work in the near 70-year-old system, which has prevented more than $6 billion worth of potential property damage and saved countless lives since its construction in the 1930s. If approved by the Conservancy Court and the MWCD Board of Directors, the MWCD plans to begin projects and collection of the assessment in 2008, with more than $2.5 billion worth of benefits and hundreds of jobs created during implementation of the plan.
The MWCD routinely provides public notice of the time, date and location of Conservancy Court sessions. For many years, the MWCD Conservancy Court has met on the second Saturday in June in the Tuscarawas County Courthouse at New Philadelphia. Due to the various legal issues related to the MWCD’s assessment proposal, additional meetings were held in January and February of this year.
For more details about the MWCD and its plan of maintenance and improvements, visit www.mwcd.org.
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