Public commenter urges Mount Orab council to remove village solicitor, cites alleged procedural violations

A public commenter told the Mount Orab Village Council that the village solicitor and outside counsel had "failed to understand nor deliberately obscured" statutory requirements in the adoption of ordinance 13-09 and other emergency measures, and called for the solicitor’s immediate resignation or termination.

The commenter listed what he said were procedural defects across multiple measures: "From January 24 through December 25, there were 8 emergency ordinances adopted, 17 emergency resolutions adopted, most of which I think only 1 went through proper procedure," and he told the council that none of those measures had been challenged by the solicitor. The speaker said the solicitor wrongly described planning commission and notice requirements and referenced "Ohio's revised code" provisions in the remarks.

The commenter identified the village solicitor by name as "Rick Ducky" (transcribed) and said the solicitor "has sat here for years allowing you to conduct meetings without proper roll calls and proper stated reasons for emergency sessions." The speaker also criticized the use of outside counsel and the cost of processing records requests and asked the council to end the solicitor’s service to the village.

Council members did not move to terminate the solicitor during the meeting after the public comment; one resident later asked whether any council member would make a motion to terminate him and no motion was offered.

The council record at this meeting did not contain a response from the solicitor or an outside-counsel representative. The assertions in public comment are the commenter’s claims; they were not adjudicated at the meeting and no legal determination was recorded.