The Hamilton County prosecutor's office is in a squabble with Commissioner Todd Portune over his practice of voting against moving public meetings into closed-door private sessions.

        Mr. Portune has routinely voted against private sessions since taking office early last year.

        That has occasionally inconvenienced the county prosecutor's office, which is the commission's lawyer.

        When First Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Brian Hurley asked Mr. Portune to explain the reason for his votes, Mr. Portune responded that private, or executive sessions, as the law calls them, are rarely needed.

        “It is my observation that the desire to conduct executive sessions on county matters is more the desire to use the legal prohibition ... to prevent public disclosure and review of matters that should fall under that harsh light,” Mr. Portune wrote in a May 14 letter to Mr. Hurley.

        Executive sessions are allowable for specific reasons, including discussions of personnel issues, conferences with lawyers to talk about imminent or pending litigation, property acquisition discussions, and collective bargaining matters.

        A majority of the commission present must vote to go into executive session and spell out the purpose of the session.

        In a three-page letter written to commissioners May 10, Mr. Hurley expressed deep frustration over a May 8 executive session that was canceled after attorneys waited for the meeting for more than a half hour.

        Mr. Hurley said May 8 wasn't the first time a scheduled executive session was canceled because of Mr. Portune's vote.

        “Indeed, earlier this year, with the full knowledge of the board and at county expense, special counsel from Washington, D.C., traveled to Cincinnati for an executive session to discuss a sensitive, important, multimillion-dollar county legal matter, and the vote was 2-1 against adjournment into executive session,” Mr. Hurley's letter says.

        Mr. Hurley has drafted a new policy regarding executive sessions:

        • The prosecutor's office will not appear for executive sessions unless and until they receive advance written confirmation that at least two commissioners will vote in favor of the session, start the session on time and remain until the end of it.

        • Absent a true emergency, the lawyers will leave if the executive session does not start within 15 minutes of its scheduled time.

        Mr. Neyer said he thinks the problem can be resolved with a phone call.

        “Todd and I have different philosophies on executive sessions,” Mr. Neyer said. “But staffing misunderstandings are best resolved through a phone conversation, and that's what I plan to have with (Prosecutor) Mike Allen.”

        Before Mr. Portune took office, and as commissioners were hiding overruns at Paul Brown Stadium from the public, the county received at least two updates in closed-door sessions by construction managers. Those meetings were held under the “pending litigation” reason, even though no lawsuit has been filed.

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