The volume knob is much, much lower at the county’s Wednesday morning meetings, which are sparsely attended, with controversy rarely on the agenda.
Both governments face similar problems — adjusting to Haitian immigration issues, managing public safety and trying to improve their local economy. But while folks are fired up at city commission, they’re quiet (or more often absent) when county leaders meet.
Is it the schedule? The subject matter? The personalities? Depends who you ask.
Springfield City Commission
Springfield meetings have been more highly attended since August 2023 after a Haitian driver caused a school bus crash that killed a local student — even though that crash happened outside of the city limits. There was another spike in attendance in September 2024 when the city was in the national spotlight following false claims that Haitian immigrants were eating pets.
Many people take advantage of the chance to speak to city commission — some frequent fliers and others one-time visitors — but the overwhelming No. 1 topic has been the Haitian population in Springfield, whether the speakers support the immigrants here or are angry about various impacts on the city and region.
Credit: Jessica Orozco
Credit: Jessica Orozco
Mayor Rob Rue told the News-Sun that residents have always come to meetings and shared a variety of concerns, treating the forum as a place to voice concerns even when the city commission has no authority.
“The way we’ve set this up is it is an open community forum and because we’re live on the local television and YouTube, I think sometimes people take the opportunity to just be able to voice their concerns, and I’m mostly OK with that,” Rue said.
Residents have a three-minute allotted speaking period, enforced by a timer at the two podiums. Rue said this has been a longtime rule to allow everyone an equal opportunity to speak.
Everyone planning to speak fills out a comment card and the city accepts those cards up to 15 minutes after the meeting starts.
Clark County Commission
County Commission meetings are held at 8:30 a.m. every Wednesday. Mornings are convenient for county departments, which work during the day, and commissioners say there are events and other meetings in the evenings that they like to attend.
Commissioners have tried evening meetings in the past but said there was no real increase in attendance and sometimes even fewer attendees when compared to the meetings held during the day.
“There is never a perfect time to hold a meeting in which everyone is able to attend,” they said.
Commissioners said they think their meetings are calmer because the nature of them is different than Springfield’s meetings. For the most part, they do not make laws, rules or ordinances and most business is not highly controversial.
But they still do important things — dealing with the county’s 911 system and law enforcement via the sheriff, working on economic development projects that could bring jobs, and managing major projects like where to build a proposed new jail.
“Realizing that there was very little we have authority over in terms of immigration, participation in our meetings has remained fairly even from week to week,” county commissioners said in a statement.
County commissioners said while the city and the county both do important work for the residents that they serve, county commissioners are bound by the Ohio Revised Code‘s limits on county boards, and can do no more than what’s stated in that law.
City changes public comment rules
While County Commission meets weekly, the Springfield City Commission meets every two weeks, Tuesdays at 7 p.m. (the next meeting is tonight). The city charter requires commission to meet at least 48 times a year, but many of those are “work session” meetings that precede a regular Tuesday meeting. The charter requires meetings to be no more than two weeks apart.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
Since gaining national attention, city officials have made changes to Springfield meetings in the name of efficiency and safety. The public now speaks to the commission at the start of the formal meeting instead of the end, and commissioners and city staff respond after everyone has spoken. Rue said when commissioners responded right after comments, “it became confusing.”
“Because the large number of people that were coming and also the energy behind it, we had to gain more meeting control,” Rue said.
After a neo-Nazi spoke at the forum and was removed for what the mayor said were threats, and after people from outside the area flooded the public comment portion of the meetings, city commission enacted a rule that all speakers be Clark County residents.
People wanting to speak must present a valid Ohio ID and, until the most recent meeting, the mayor stated their names and addresses before they stepped up to the podium.
Several residents raised concerns about their addresses being shared to the broadcast meeting, with one resident several weeks ago sharing concerns related to being a domestic violence survivor. Another person at a recent meeting said it made residents easier targets for hate groups or individuals who disagreed with them.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
The city and several residents are currently engaged in a lawsuit against neo-Nazi group The Blood Tribe in part for threats it allegedly made against city officials and community members who spoke in support of or actively supported the Haitian population.
Rue at a recent meeting told the audience that addresses would no longer be shared publicly in response to concerns.
“When the person comes up to the podium, they’re welcome to say their name, but they don’t need to, because I’ll call you by name,” Rue said. “I will not be saying addresses any longer. We did hear that this is a concern and we agree, so we’re going to change.”
Before each meeting, Rue reads a statement including the rules geared toward orderly and constructive meetings as well as “honoring first amendment principles.”
Credit: Jessica Orozco
Credit: Jessica Orozco
To stream or not
City meetings are broadcast on public access television and on YouTube, where the recordings are stored.
County Commission’s 8:30 a.m. Wednesday meetings are audio-recorded to allow for accurate minutes to be taken, which are then publicly posted to the website at www.clarkcountyohio.gov for anyone to read. Meetings are not video recorded or livestreamed.
Commissioners said there has been discussion of video recording the meetings, but they haven’t felt the need.
There is no limit on who can speak at the meeting, and no proof of residency is required, but they do limit comments to three minutes, which is normally only needed on occasions when a public hearing turns out a larger number of people commenting on a controversial issue.
A resident at a recent county commission meeting said she was there as a representative of county citizens and had a request from them that included to move meeting times at least twice a month so other people can attend and to videotape every meeting so “every citizen of Clark County has access to what goes on in this room.”
“We are not opposed, and are currently exploring the options of either having quarterly evening meetings, or hosting meet and greets around the county to allow candid conversations between the commissioners and the community,” commissioners said.
Rittenhouse said they have reached out to other county commissioners around the state to see if they record their meetings and/or have night meetings.
Out of the 19 counties that responded, eight of them video record and livestream their meetings and 11 counties do not video record their meetings. All 19 also do not have regular meetings in the evening.
Although meetings are not recorded or streamed, commissioners said they are “open and willing” to talk with community members about topics that affect citizens within the county.
Credit: Bill Lackey
Credit: Bill Lackey
