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BARNESVILLE -- Village Council voted Monday to settle a lawsuit brought against the village by Open Government Advocates.
Mayor Dale Bunting requested an executive session during the regular council meeting Monday, saying, "We need a conference with our attorney concerning a dispute involving Barnesville as a subject of pending litigation."
After the 15-minute, closed-door session, Bunting asked Village Solicitor Adam Myser how to phrase the way that council had decided to proceed.
"I would ask for a motion authorizing me to enter into a settlement with the attorney for the pending litigation to settle that litigation with a consent entry in payment of up to $2,500 plus a filing fee that would include attorney fees, a forfeiture, and filing fees," Myser said.
Councilman Steve Hill quickly made the motion, which was seconded by Council President Les Tickhill before being unanimously passed as Councilmen Brian Yarnall, Terry McCort, Tony Johnson and Tim McKelvey joined Hill and Tickhill with "yes" votes.
When the lawsuit had been brought up by Hill during the July 31 meeting, Myser had characterized the group that had brought the suit and others like it as "public meeting bounty hunters." He explained at the time that the group had claimed that Barnesville had violated Ohio's Public Meeting Act after "mining" the village's publicly available meeting minutes.