Westerville man confronts quorum of City Council in what he calls violation of Ohio law

John Gatiss is an editor of pharmaceutical documents and prides himself on details and accuracy at work and elsewhere.

So when he heard that Westerville City Council member Dennis Blair resigned a month ago and was quietly replaced by Aaron Glasgow, who failed to win a council seat in the November election, he wanted to know more.

Glasgow attended the Feb. 23 council meeting and, Gatiss observed, "appeared ready to take the oath of office, so clearly some kind of decision had been made outside the public's eye that he was already aware of," Gatiss said. "Obviously, Glasgow knew he was going to be appointed."

But nowhere in meeting minutes or records could Gatiss find when and where that decision was made.

A Westerville spokesperson told The Dispatch there is "no method for appointment prescribed in the Charter, Code or Bylaws, and no search or application process is required." Council may directly appoint a replacement.

Gatiss wasn't satisfied. The 45-year-old has followed city government for almost seven years and seen "few contentious votes and few surprises over all that time, which has suggested to me that there are a lot of background conversations happening," he said in an email to The Dispatch.

His story so far might seem either a pointless exercise in trolling public officials or a heroic quest of free and open government — depending on one's interest in arcane government law and public accountability.

Gatiss began calling and emailing the six council members who chose Glasgow, suspecting that "the decision was made behind closed doors in an improperly used executive session that was convened to discuss the process, not the appointment itself, and then rubber-stamped at a subsequent meeting," which he says Ohio's Sunshine Laws prohibit. Glasgow was sworn into office Feb. 23 to serve the rest of Blair's term through December 2025.

Gatiss' suspicions of secret Westerville council meetings lead to a gathering in a dark restaurant

Despite his persistence, Gatiss' repeated calls and emails weren't returned. So one evening he decided to walk to the Koble Grill, a block north of City Hall in Uptown Westerville, where he heard officials often gathered after council meetings.

Still in pursuit of answers, he said, "I was going to walk by. But I was shocked by what I saw."

At a large table were five council members: Glasgow, David Grimes, Michael Heyeck, Megan Czako Reamsnyder and Jeff Washburn. Harlem Township Trustee Carl Richison also was seated at the table.

Gatiss walked in. "I pulled up a chair and joined them. They initially welcomed me, and I was introduced," Gatiss recalled.

He listened for at least 30 minutes as they discussed with Richison recent plans to merge with Harlem Township and other government matters.

"I thought it was a discussion of city and township business — the kinds of things that should be discussed at a public meeting with public notice," Gatiss said. "They weren't talking about movies or sports."

As the restaurant was preparing to close, Gatiss stood and confronted Heyeck, a council member since 1993 and current chairman: "You cannot do this again. This is a violation of state open meetings laws," Gatiss recalled saying.

Heyeck told Gatiss that the gathering, a quorum of council, was appropriate because only discussion took place, not deliberation.

"He also said it was OK because they let me join them and it was in a public place," Gatiss recalled.

"I put them on notice that even if you're not talking about council business, it's the appearance of impropriety, and you want to avoid that."

Franklin County Metro Parks went to 'great lengths' to provide meeting notice for Minnesota vacation

In 2005, Franklin County Metro Parks Executive Director John O'Meara was trying to avoid similar trouble when he sent out a notice of a "Special Board Meeting" for two of three parks board members who were vacationing together.

Former board members Robert "Tad" Jeffrey and Kenneth Danter would be "participating in a back country canoe trip in Minnesota's Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness beginning at noon on Saturday," the notice read. "No park board business will be conducted during this trip."

Typically board members' vacations are not cause for concern, but O'Meara wanted to be sure.

"I found myself asking, 'Is this overkill?'" O'Meara said. "I felt a little awkward doing this. If it's a quorum of the board present, technically, it's a meeting."

Gatiss' mother was one of five council members in a small Michigan town, and he recalls how she feared having more than two members walking into a shop she owned, because it would comprise an illegal quorum.

"That members of Council in Westerville, a much larger community, don't have that same conscientiousness and presence of mind — it's pretty outrageous," Gatiss said.

Verbal sparring erupts between Gatiss and council chair Michael Heyeck

Earlier this month, Gatiss sent all Westerville council members and other city officials excerpts of Ohio Public Meeting Laws, specifically the definition of a meeting as a "prearranged discussion of the public business of the public body by a majority of its members" that requires proper public notice and documentation.

"I'm sure you'll have no problem in the future if I take photos and record any similar conversations taking place as documentation. Then, if necessary, the courts can decide what counts as 'prearranged,'" Gatiss told Heyeck.

Council members can, he said, "go out for drinks or dinner, even at the same restaurant, or attend the same public events. However, the groups and discussions they are in need to be three members or less" to avoid breaking the law.

Heyeck emailed Gatiss, that years ago he sought legal advice and that he is "very aware and cautious on this matter."

"I’m not a lawyer and neither are you," Heyeck wrote. The Koble gathering was "personal and not business in my view. We did not discuss any substantive operations or other matters. The gathering was in a public setting and we welcomed you to join us and you did."

Gatiss was not impressed.

"Transparency in government is a serious and important issue. Going forward, I will be keeping a much closer eye on this council. In the spirit of comity, this is a friendly warning. I hope that members of council will modify and monitor their behavior accordingly."

In a Thursday interview with The Dispatch, Heyeck said that the meeting at Koble was unplanned.

"None of us knew who was going there," he said. The discussion was "a social thing that was personal."

Peg Duffy, a longtime observer who cites her "good government lady" approach said, "Council has for years gone to Koble for debriefing."

And Valerie Cumming, a council member from 2017 to 2021, recalled efforts by council to limit controversy and dissent at meetings including being told to "iron out" problems beforehand "to keep council from looking foolish if I asked something they couldn't answer.

"Everything they don't want on the public record is done verbally so that there is no paper trail," she said in a Facebook response to The Dispatch article. "They don't like anyone questioning their judgment at all."

Heyeck referred questions about open meetings to Westerville Law Director Andrew Winkel, who sided with Heyeck, refuting all of Gatiss' claims. "My understanding is that the gathering in question was impromptu and spontaneous, and that the conversations were informal, social and personal in nature," Winkel said.

dnarciso@dispatch.com

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Quest for government sunshine leads man to dark Westerville restaurant