Whitehall’s city attorney has appointed an outside lawyer to investigate whether the appointment of the current City Council president violated Ohio’s Open Meetings Act.
Whitehall City Attorney Brad Nicodemus has named David Moser to investigate the potential violation. Moser, who is also the city attorney for Delaware, has agreed to "look into the issue" regarding whether four city council members conspired to appoint Patricia Balser as the city council president without public input during an August city council meeting. Balser was one of the architects of a failed recall effort that sought to oust Mayor Michael Bivens and at-large council members Lori Elmore and Amy Harcar.
Moser told The Dispatch on Sept. 16 that he would not be providing
comment while the investigation is ongoing. He is not being compensated for the investigation, he said in an email. Once Moser is finished with his investigation, he will turn the results over to Nicodemus.
Balser's nomination for city council president at an Aug. 18 meeting drew objections from Brown, Harcar and Elmore, who questioned why McCann, Dixon, Adkins and Morrison all voted in favor of the nomination without any discussion on the dais.
The trio in opposition said the lack of public discussion gave the appearance that the four council members had discussed Balser's nomination before the vote and outside of a public meeting. Nicodemus similarly noted that the circumstances could give the appearance of prior discussions outside the public eye.
Although council voted 4-3 to nominate Balser at that meeting, she was not appointed as President.
Two weeks later on Sept. 1, City Council interviewed several candidates for the presidency, including Balser. At that meeting, McCann, Dixon, Morrison, and Adkins voted to appoint Balser as City Council President. Brown, Elmore, and Harcar, who voted against her appointment, raised concerns in that meeting over Balser's role in the recall effort and whether she would be able to effectively work with Bivens over potentially hot-button issues in Whitehall such as economic development.
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Whitehall appoints outside counsel to probe potential state law violation
