From The Canton Repository A judge who earlier found that a southwest Ohio township government violated open-meetings law with informal gatherings has ordered it to pay nearly $200,000 in attorney fees and costs.
The 2011 lawsuit said Clearcreek Township trustees regularly met in the township administrator’s office before public meetings from 2009 to 2011 to work out their positions on issues.
The Dayton Daily News reported that Warren County Common Pleas Judge James Flannery has ordered the township to pay the attorney fees on behalf of resident Jack Chrisman, who sued the trustees.
Emily Grannis, a lawyer with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said it’s a large award for that kind of litigation.