Additional Facts To Consider

Here are some facts to consider when trying to put last Wednesday night’s events in perspective:

• During the Feb 8th Council meeting, after announcing the February 16th Charter Review Commission (CRC) meeting, Mayor Coleman told Council that the CRC “wants to talk by itself first” and that it would open a meeting to the public sometime in the future, after that. One Council member followed up on the mayor’s implied message---namely that the CRC intended to meet and discuss things in private and that the public should wait for a formal invitation before attending any CRC meetings. Councilwoman Cathy Murphy, a lawyer, asked Mayor Coleman to confirm whether or not CRC meetings are public meetings covered by state Sunshine Laws. In response to that question,  Mayor Coleman acknowledged that CRC meetings are (supposed to be) public meetings.
  
• The city is required to give advance notice of all public meetings. There is a Calendar of Events on the city’s website that lists all city events and public meetings each month---http://www.highlandhts.com/calendar/calendar.phpI checked the city’s online Calendar of Events on February 16th and again on February 17th---the Feb. 16th CRC meeting was not listed. (I have a screenshot of the Feb. 17th calendar documenting that fact.)Amusingly, if you check the city’s online calendar today, you will see the Feb. 16th CRC meeting listed. Why the belated posting? Well maybe the powers that be figured that post-dating a calendar is just like post-dating a check---no one will notice, but you cover yourself, just in case.
  It goes without saying that adding a meeting to the city’s Calendar of Events after the meeting takes place does not constitute giving proper prior notice of that meeting to the public.
  
• A quick geography lesson. What county is Highland Heights located in?
  Answer: Cuyahoga County, of course.
  There are two local Cuyahoga County media outlets that regularly cover Highland Heights meetings and events: The Sun Messenger and http://www.patch.com/.
  The city did not publish a notice of the February 16th CRC meeting in either of those sources. I hear, however, that a notice was placed in a Lake County newspaper that covers and serves cities and towns in Lake County.
  So, only those select few Highland Heights residents who had the foresight to scour an outside-county publication would have received notice of last Wednesday's CRC meeting.

If all of the above doesn’t tell you that major games were afoot with regard to the February 16th CRC meeting, I don’t know what would.


Patch.com ran a story on this, but neglected to report the mayor's presence inside City Hall: 

http://hillcrest.patch.com/articles/locked-door-at-charter-review-meeting-called-on-oversight

I expect that the games will continue---but, hopefully, behind open doors the next time around.