Riverside Local board narrowly approves outside counsel after debate over scope

The Riverside Local School District Board of Education voted 3-2 on Tuesday to retain outside legal counsel, approving an engagement with a firm identified in the meeting materials as McGowan and Markling after debate over how broadly the firm would be authorized to represent the district.

The issue centered on language in the proposed engagement that would have directed the district’s insurance company and risk-management pool to appoint the firm to "all covered litigation matters." Board member "Speaker 3" voiced concern that the wording was overly broad and moved to strike the word "all," a motion that passed 4-1 before the retention resolution was adopted.

Speaker 1 introduced the retention item and identified attorney Matt Markling as present in the meeting room. Markling told the board he had been asked to meet with the board in executive session but could not do so until retained. "It is at will, and it is nothing more, nothing less," Markling said, and he added that his firm "represents school boards throughout the state of Ohio." Those comments were offered as he described the proposal as a standard engagement letter that could be altered if the board chose.

Opposition focused on scope and on replacing or duplicating existing general counsel. One board member said, "I don't know this individual... I'm not quite familiar with why we need to hire additional attorney or additional counsel," and pressed for a limitation to make clear the retention would be for a limited purpose rather than covering all litigation.

Board members and meeting participants also discussed administrative details of handling invoices and purchase orders. Matt Markling said invoices would be submitted to the treasurer for substantiation before payment. The transcript records references to potential purchase-order amounts ("$2.95 and $3.50"), but the context and intent for those figures were not clear from the public discussion and were not specified in the motion.

On the final roll call for the retention resolution, votes recorded during the meeting produced a 3-2 outcome approving the engagement and directing the board president, treasurer and superintendent to execute the agreement. After the vote, the board approved adjourning to executive session at 5:43 p.m. to discuss personnel and attorney–client matters related to imminent court action.

The record shows multiple spellings for the firm and for one board member’s surname across discussion and materials; in this article the firm is named consistently as "McGowan and Markling" and the board member spelling follows the first on the roll call to preserve clarity in reporting. The executive session was designated confidential and no further public action was recorded before the room was cleared.