DEAR EDITOR:

After reading the Jan. 16 Vindicator article regarding the possible violations of the Ohio Sunshine Law by the Mahoning County Commissioners, I believe I have a solution that would prevent future abuses of executive sessions by elected officials.

I think it is time to require that all executive sessions be recorded and archived in secure storage. These recordings would not be made available to the general public, but would allowed to be reviewed by a judge or magistrate, should a credible complaint of violation of the Ohio Open Meetings Act be alleged to occur.

Doing this would deter abuse of executive sessions by elected officials, since it would then be possible to determine beyond doubt, via judicial review, whether or not the executive session was proper.

RICH FERENCHAK

North Lima