A judge has dismissed a Massillon woman’s lawsuit filed against the Conservancy Court of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District that claimed the Court violated portions of Ohio’s open meetings law.
The Conservancy Court is a court of common pleas and is not subject to the Open Meetings Act, according to the ruling issued recently in Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court by visiting Judge H.F. Inderlied Jr.
James J. Pringle, MWCD legal counsel, told members of the MWCD Board of Directors during a meeting today (Jan. 19) that the ruling affirms the claims made by the MWCD in its request seeking dismissal of the suit. The lawsuit was filed late last year by N. Kathryn Walker of Massillon.
In the decision by Judge Inderlied – who is not a member of the Conservancy Court – the judge found that since it is a court of law, the Conservancy Court cannot sue or be sued, the Conservancy Court is not subject to the open meetings laws in Ohio and that the Conservancy Court and the MWCD are “separate entities with separate functions.”
Walker’s suit claimed that the Conservancy Court violated the open meetings laws during Court sessions held in 2005 and 2006, when it adjourned for deliberations on matters brought before the Court by the MWCD. The suit was filed on Walker’s behalf by William E. Walker, a Massillon attorney and the son of N. Kathryn Walker.
“It is very clear under Ohio law what units of government are subject to the Open Meetings law and the Conservancy Court is not included,” Pringle said. “Courts do not deliberate in public.”
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 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 2006.
In a related matter, Board members learned that an estimated 94 percent of the nearly 500,000 properties that would be billed under the plan would be for a $12 annual assessment each.
Thomas Fisher, MWCD Geographic Information Systems Coordinator, told Board members that an analysis of the billing data also showed that an estimated 96 percent of all properties billed under the plan would be for less than $50 each.
In addition, Fisher said that 90 percent of all commercial property assessments would be for less than $400 apiece annually, and that 80 percent of all industrial property assessments would be for less than $265 per year each.
For more details about the MWCD and its plan of maintenance and improvements, visit www.mwcd.org.
In other business, the MWCD Board of Directors:
- heard a presentation about the development of the Tuscarawas County Greenspace & Trail Plan from John Houser, director of partnerships for the Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition. Houser said that implementation of the pedestrian trail system in the county, to be overseen by the county’s newly formed parks department, will help connect additional destinations to the widespread system, including many MWCD reservoirs.
- heard a presentation about the services of Aqua Ohio, a water supply utility, from Walter J. “Buzz” Piskur, company president. MWCD has been discussing potential operation agreements with Aqua Ohio for the 22 systems presently operated by MWCD at its numerous reservoirs.
- agreed to request that the MWCD’s Development Advisory Committee establish a task force of committee members and others to review the use and licensing of golf carts and other similar motorized carts on MWCD-owned property. The committee and task force would report its findings and any recommendations to the MWCD Board of Directors for consideration.
- approved a resolution honoring Carroll County Common Pleas Court Judge William J. Martin for his 22 years of service on the Conservancy Court, including service as the presiding judge since 1999. Judge Martin recently retired.
- held an executive session to discuss pending litigation and personnel.
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