Trumbull Commissioners settle lawsuit alleging Sunshine Law violations

The Trumbull County Board of Commissioners are on the hook for more than $50,000 in taxpayer funds they will have to pay out to settle a lawsuit from former commissioner Niki Frenchko over violations of Ohio's Sunshine laws. 

The suit was filed by Frenchko in 2023 from incidents from 2021 through 2023, citing a pattern of illegal meetings being held by former commissioners Mauro Cantalamessa and Frank Fuda, as well as other department heads. While Commissioner Malloy was named in the lawsuit, he tells 21 News that the claims against him were dismissed previously from the lawsuit. The online court docket does not reflect this as of Wednesday at 5:49 p.m.

The suit provided background on several meetings the commissioners held either without public notice or via email or phone call, without including Frenchko. 

Ohio law requires that if a quorum of a public body is present, it constitutes an official meeting and must follow guidelines for how to conduct business in full view of the public. 

The suit also provided video evidence of some of these meetings, during which official decisions were made regarding county business. The law requires those actions only be taken in publicized, public meetings. 

As part of the settlement, the county will need to pay out approximately $51,000, which come out of the county's general fund, the vast majority of which will go to cover attorney fees. 

Commissioner Tony Bernard, who was not yet on the board at the time of the alleged misconduct, expressed frustration that the county allowed the expense to taxpayers to pile up, believing the matter should have been settled much sooner. 

"You would have thought that someone would have said 'wait a minute, let's put the brakes on this,' because if you lose one suit, then you have to pay all the attorney fees," Bernard said. 

Commissioner Denny Malloy is quoted in a news release saying now that the lawsuit has been settled, the county can finally move on from the situation and focus on advocating for residents of the county.

"It's sad that the county's elected officials and taxpayers had to spend two years fighting alleged sunshine law violations brought by a former commissioner against the very board of commissioners that she served on," Malloy said.

However, Malloy also acknowledged that a judge had told the board they would not likely prevail in the suit as far back as January. 

Frenchko sent 21 News the following statement on the lawsuit being settled:

"When elected officials cavalierly violate the law and public trust, they must be held accountable. My efforts have always been to correct misconduct and it's unfortunate they wouldn't do so based on my guidance - rather than a lawsuit."

"The case should have settled last year for a fraction of the costs, but for political reasons, Malloy and Cantalamessa wasted taxpayer funds on legal fees for matters where offenses were flagrant. (This was not covered by insurance - but the general fund."

The release from the commissioners' office also claims that an allegation that former commissioners and the former sheriff destroyed text messages related to Frenchko's 2022 arrest. 

In that matter, Frenchko accused the others of conspiring to have her arrested during a meeting, a matter that was eventually thrown out. A federal judge ruled in Frenchko's favor in that case as well, finding that her constitutional rights were violated by the arrest, which came during a discussion of her criticism of jail inmates. 

However, that matter is a separate, federal suit and the settlement announced on Wednesday does not pertain to that case, which remains open. It's unclear why the commissioners referred to it in their news release, although it's possible a future update to the docket could provide further clarity.