The Subcommittee on the Appointment of Clerk of Council voted to enter an executive session Monday to consider the employment and appointment of a public official after completing a series of candidate interviews.

The subcommittee chair said, “We had 122 applications. From that, we scheduled 13 interviews. 2 people dropped out of the interview process on their own. We then had 11 interviews over a 3 day period last week,” and moved, citing Ohio Revised Code §121.22(G)(1), to go into executive session “to consider the employment, appointment, or compensation of a public employee or official.”

Why it matters: entering executive session under Ohio law allows the subcommittee to discuss candidate evaluations and deliberations privately before bringing recommendations back to the full council for any public action.

What the subcommittee said it did: the chair thanked staff and committee members for conducting the review and interviews, naming Director of Human Resources Leticia Hazel, Clerk of Council Melissa Autry, City Solicitor Emily Smart Warner, President Pro Tem Victoria Parks, Council Member Scottie Johnson and Committee Member Jeff Kramer Ding for their roles in the process. The chair said the subcommittee will “get input from the rest of council in executive session.”

Formal action and roll call: the chair moved to enter executive session under Ohio Revised Code §121.22(G)(1). Council Member Scottie Johnson, President Pro Tem Victoria Parks and Vice Mayor Jermachell Limon Kearney each answered “yes” on roll call. The subcommittee then adjourned into executive session; no public appointment or hiring decision was announced during the open meeting.

What was not decided: the transcript records only the vote to move into executive session and references to the interview process and participant names. No appointment, formal recommendation to the full council, vote to hire, salary or contract details were discussed or recorded in the public portion of the meeting.

Next steps: the subcommittee indicated it would conduct private deliberations in executive session and obtain input from additional council members there; the public record does not yet show any final hiring action or timeline for a recommendation to the full council.

The open-meeting remarks and the roll call occurred during the subcommittee session on the appointment of Clerk of Council; subsequent deliberations were moved to executive session under statutory authority.