The members of a municipal body may hold an executive session only after a majority of a quorum of the public body determines, by roll call vote, to hold an executive session in accordance with the provisions of Ohio R.C. 121.22. Executive session may only be for the sole purpose of the consideration of any of the following matters, as such matters may be amended from time to time, in Ohio R.C. 121.22(G):
(a) To consider the appointment, employment, dismissal, discipline, promotion, demotion or compensation of a public employee or official, or the investigation of charges or complaints against a public employee, official, licensee or regulated individual unless the public employee, official, licensee or regulated individual requests a public hearing. Except as otherwise provided by law, no public body shall hold an executive session for the discipline of an elected official for conduct related to the performance of the elected official’s official duties or for the elected official’s removal from office. If a municipal body holds an executive session pursuant to this section, the motion and vote to hold that executive session shall state which one or more of the approved purposes listed in this section are the purposes for which the executive session is to be held, but need not include the name of any person to be considered at the meeting;
(b) To consider the purchase of property for public purposes, or for the sale of property at competitive bidding, or the sale or other disposition of unneeded, obsolete, or unfit-for-use property, if premature disclosure of information would give an unfair competitive or bargaining advantage to a person whose personal, private interest is adverse to the general public. No member of a public body shall use this section as a subterfuge for providing covert information to prospective buyers or sellers. A purchase or sale of public property is void if the seller or buyer of the public property has received covert information from a member of a public body that has not been disclosed to the general public in sufficient time for other prospective buyers and sellers to prepare and submit offers. If the minutes of the public body show that all meetings and deliberations of the public body have been conducted in compliance with this section, any instrument executed as a result of, purporting to convey, lease, or otherwise dispose of any right, title, or interest in any public property shall be conclusively presumed to have been executed in compliance with this section insofar as title or other interest of any bona fide purchasers, lessees, or transferees of the property in concerned;
(c) Conferences with an attorney for the municipal body concerning disputes involving the municipal body that are the subject to pending or imminent court action;
(d) For preparing, conducting or reviewing negotiations or bargaining sessions with public employees concerning their compensation or other terms and conditions of their employment;
(e) Matters required to be kept confidential by federal laws or rules, state statutes or local resolutions or ordinances;
(f) Details relative to the security arrangements and emergency response protocols for a public body or public office, if disclosure of the matters discussed could reasonably be expected to jeopardize the security of the public body or public office.
A resolution, rule, or formal action of any kind is invalid unless adopted in an open meeting of the municipal body. A resolution, rule, or formal action adopted in an open meeting that results from deliberations in a meeting not open to the public is invalid unless the deliberations were for a purpose specifically authorized under this section and conducted at an executive session held in compliance with this section.
(Ord. 2020-141. Passed 10-8-20.)