WARREN — Niki Frenchko and Open Government Advocates, including the Mogadore man who cites himself as a warrior fighting for the state’s open meetings law, have filed a lawsuit against Trumbull County, its commissioners, specifically Mauro Cantalamessa and Denny Malloy, and clerk Paula Viovoda-Klotz for violating the state’s open meetings law.

Frenchko, who also is a commissioner, is filing the action as a resident of Trumbull County while Open Government Advocates, in care of Brian Ames of Mogadore, is a nonprofit organization registered with the Ohio Secretary of State. Ames is the open meetings warrior who has successfully sued several Trumbull County trustee boards, school boards and councils for violating the Ohio open meetings law.

The lawsuit was filed late Friday afternoon in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court and it was assigned to Judge Ronald J. Rice.

The lawsuit, filed by attorney Matt Miller-Novak of Cincinnati, begins: “It is no secret that Malloy and Cantalamessa do not frequently see eye-to-eye with Commissioner Frenchko.” It claims the two meet to take official actions privately without Frenchko or the public present.

One example given was in June 2021, when Commissioner Frank Fuda was on the board with Cantalamessa, and the two met with several employees as a quorom to hold a staff meeting and discussed employment matters that they were required to discuss in public or in a lawfully called-for executive session, the lawsuit states.

Another example was Malloy and Cantalamessa recently admitted they called one another on the phone Feb. 28 to take offical action to send employees home, following an incident involving Frenchko and acting HR director Charles Lightner, the lawsuit states. At the time one commissioner called another, “they established a quoroum, they discussed matters involving employment they discussed what action to take and then they took the official action of sending the employees home early,” the lawsuit states. Also the lawsuit states the commissioners at the time did not require the employees to use any of ther accrued paid time off.

The lawsuit claims Malloy and Cantalamessa provided no notice of this phone meeting.

MALLOY’S

RESPONSE

Responding to the lawsuit, Malloy gave his version of events from Feb. 28 in which he said he called Cantalamessa, who was still in the office, on an inter-office telephone to tell him that things were “not safe” as he said many staffers were visibly frightened by Frenchko.

“It was a dangerous situation where all 10 employees felt unsafe and wanted to leave. Many of the employees already have lawsuits against her,” Malloy said. He also added, “She (Frenchko) is a danger to society that creates a dangerous environment.”

Earlier that day, Malloy and Frenchko butted heads over requested documents that Malloy said was not something that could be provided by him or other staffers in the commissioners office. This exchange, Malloy said, led to Frencko slamming a door so hard in his face that it shook the room.

During this altercation, Malloy said a newspaper reporter was there to witness the incident and he advised Trumbull County sheriff’s deputies on Friday to collect a statement from the reporter.

The incidents that required deputies involvement was recorded by Frenchko, according to Malloy.

“If she’s showing copies of the tape then you need to see the full unedited video of what happened,” Malloy said. “The clerks have their own tapes that they recorded of the incident.”

By sending the employees home, Malloy said he acted on their behalf.

SEPARATE

INCIDENT

The lawsuit also accuses Vivoda-Klotz of circulating emails to commissioners requesting votes on certain matters with commissioners voting on these matters via email and other “round-robin” serial communications.

The lawsuit asks for the judge to order proper meeting minutes of all commissioners meetings and ordering all actions taken during these meetings be invalidated. It also calls for attorney fees and court costs of the plaintiffs be paid for by the defendants.

Cantalamessa said he was not aware of the lawsuit when contacted and declined to comment before having sought legal counsel.

gvogrin@tribtoday.com

cmcbride@tribtoday.com