Four Whitehall City Council members faced questions about compliance with Ohio's Open Meetings Act after they nominated one of the leaders of the city's recent recall campaign as council president without prior public discussion or input.
During a contentious 3½ hour meeting on Aug. 18, Council members Brian McCann, Gerald Dixon, Mike Adkins, and President Pro-Tempore Larry Morrison voted to nominate Patricia Balser as City Council president. The council did not, however, vote to appoint Balser or anyone to fill the council president vacancy created when former President Thomas Potter resigned to relocate to Columbus.
Balser, along with Holly Stein, were the two architects of a failed recall effort to oust Mayor Michael Bivens and at-large Council members Lori Elmore and Amy Harcar. Both of the recall leaders were in the front row of the audience at the council meeting.
The nomination vote passed 4-3, with Council members Devin Brown, Elmore, and Harcar opposed. Immediately after the nomination vote, the trio questioned the fact that McCann, Dixon, Adkins, and Morrison all voted in favor of nominating Balser without any prior conversation on the dais at the meeting about the nomination. The trio said it appeared that the four council members discussed nominating Balser before the vote and someplace outside of the public eye.
"I don't know if any conversations took place prior to tonight, [but] it gives the appearance of that," City Attorney Brad Nicodemus said of the vote to nominate Balser. He also said that if a conversation or meeting behind closed doors among a majority of council members did take place, it would likely be a violation of the state's open meetings law.
"These are the same people who talk about a lack of transparency on council," Brown said of the four council members who voted to nominate Balser. "If they wanted to be transparent, they would've put [applications for the position] out last week."
Brown said that he had no issue with Balser being nominated or appointed as City Council president, but nominating her without public input was his primary issue.
"This is a dangerous precedent," Harcar said. "Don't talk to me about transparency when you all have done everything that you can do to get your people through."
Elmore and Harcar also objected to Balser's nomination over her role in the failed recall effort against them, and Brown specifically accused Balser of being "used" by Stein.
Patricia Balser is the wife of Trevel Balser, the former City Treasurer who resigned three days after the recall attempt failed, saying the position had been reduced to insignificance. Janell Luke was appointed to fill Trevel's position as treasurer.
In a statement to The Dispatch on Aug. 19, Brown said he was approached about filling the role of City Council president, but he declined because he wanted to continue representing Ward 4. He said he became aware through more conversations that "members of Council had been discussing how to fill the [City Council President] vacancy outside of a public process."
"At a time when our community needs healing and greater trust in its institutions, we should be doing everything possible to make important decisions openly and with meaningful opportunity for community input," Brown said.
"Transparency should not depend on whether it is convenient or whether we agree with the eventual outcome. The public deserves to see how its government makes decisions, particularly decisions about who represents them. I will continue advocating for a process that is open, transparent, and centered on the community we were elected to serve."
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at [email protected], at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Did 4 Whitehall council members violate state law in president nomination vote?