The list of Butler and Warren communities where the sun's not shining keeps growing.

        In March, Warren County commissioners settled a lawsuit with the Enquirer over several closed-door meetings they held in violation of Ohio Sunshine Laws.

        In May, Fairfield's mayor admitted that a weekend City Council meeting announced less than 24 hours in advance also broke the law.

        Now, Liberty Township trustees are the latest to apparently run afoul of Ohio's open-meetings law.

        All three trustees and the township administrator held an unannounced meeting in late June to interview a job candidate. They also discussed whether one trustee leaked information about a potential new development to the Enquirer, according to Trustee Bob Shelley.

        Administrator Nell Kilpatrick says the township's attorney has advised them the trustees can meet without public notice for work sessions in which no decisions are made. The attorney has not returned calls for comment.

        The Ohio Revised Code, however, defines a meeting as a “prearranged gathering of a majority of the members of a public body to discuss or conduct public business.” Meetings — including those on personnel matters — must be announced 24 hours ahead of time, says Chris Slagle, spokesman for the Ohio Attorney General's Office.

        “My assumption as a trustee is that it was done legally and the press was notified,” Mr. Shelley says. “I'll be perfectly honest with you. That's not the first time. If that one was in violation, then the other ones are, too. We have met before on the same basis.”

        Perhaps local governments should take a page from Warren County commissioners, who hired an expert on state open records and open meeting laws to conduct a seminar for county officials.

— with Jennifer Edwards

        As time goes on: While the guys continue to hash out their differences, Warren County's Republican women have taken charge of planning the party's fair booth.

        “It's going very smoothly,” says Sharon Lawhorn, president of the Warren County Women's Republican Club. The county fair starts Monday.

        Things are going great for the club, too, Ms. Lawhorn says — membership is at a record high of almost 120 members.

        The club's assumption of booth-planning duties, however, suggests that the stalemate over leadership of the county GOP continues.

        The executive committee adjourned its May organizational meeting without electing officers in an attempt to keep longtime Chairman Les Spaeth from being unseated.

        “To see the party come to that, it broke my heart,” says Ms. Lawhorn, a committee member.

        Since then, Mr. Spaeth's supporters and members of a “conservative caucus” that supports rival Tom Grossmann have been trying to hammer out an agreement on what happens next.

        Tips and comments on suburban politics may be relayed to reporter Cindi Andrews at 755-4157, or e-mail candrews@enquirer.com.

Chabot decries airport security
FBI reviews Erpenbeck files
CPS hopes to keep candidates a secret
'Have you seen me?' draws 90 Erica tips
Man argues intent in own rape trial
Mother will stand trial in burning death of son, 9
Ob-gyns reassure patients on HRT
Police sting nets arrests on drug, soliciting charges
Smallpox not cause for panic
Suspect in bank robberies jailed
Teens in running for nationals
Tristate A.M. Report
BRONSON: Pro eaters
HOWARD: Some Good News
KORTE: City Hall
SAMPLES: Admissions College makes kids desperate
Children taken from filthy home
Liberty citizens kept in dark
Ohio 4 merchants oppose city's plans
Owensboro lab to make cancer, AIDS vaccines
Warren considers rollback on taxes
Despite tax hike, state receipts grow very little
Accused priest seeks defrocking
Ex-Governor Wilkinson eulogized as a fighter
Kentucky News Briefs
Man sought for role in wreck found
Patton drops quest for school dollars
School's turf going synthetic
TANK riders speak out against cuts
Water still shallow in Boone Co.