Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Government Ethics topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County attorney tells councilors not to accept outside information on pending land‑use cases
Summary
County counsel instructed council members that ex parte contacts — including off‑record meetings or emails about pending land‑use applications — must be disclosed or avoided to protect applicants' due process rights; limited exceptions exist for staff‑authorized subcommittees and emergency safety operations.
County legal counsel told the Summit County Council on April 1 that elected members should avoid informal, outside exchanges with applicants or neighbors when matters are pending, saying those ex parte communications can undermine due process and fairness. "Ex parte communications are communications that happen outside of your official meetings," counsel explained, and warned that the timely and equal flow of information to the whole council is important for integrity.
Counsel outlined routine practices: officers may acknowledge receipt of constituent emails but should not consider their contents in deliberations; emails intended for public hearing evidence should be routed to planning staff and the county clerk so they become part of the public record; small council subcommittees (no more than two members) may meet with applicants if they report back publicly. If a councilor inadvertently meets with a private party about a matter that later appears before the council, counsel said the correct remedy is a public disclosure on the record so the applicant can respond.
Council members asked practical questions about how to reply to constituents, whether to copy other councilors, and options after a public hearing closes. Counsel said simple acknowledgments to constituents are acceptable but they cannot be considered as part of deliberations and that emails received after a hearing must be disregarded unless the council reopens the hearing with proper notice.
