Three vs. five: The Warren County Prosecutor's Office is staying out of the fracas between the Deerfield Township Board of Trustees and a group of residents who hope to increase the board's size.

        Bob Styers and several other residents asked Chief Assistant Prosecutor Rachel Hutzel on Monday for a legal opinion about a letter that trustees sent to area newspapers opposing a larger board. Ms. Hutzel said she referred them to the township's legal counsel because the prosecutor's office does not represent townships with home rule, such as Deerfield.

        “My question is if the Sunshine Laws were broken,” Mr. Styers said.

        Sunshine Laws prohibit a majority of the trustees from discussing township business outside of advertised public meetings.

        But they did not discuss the letter, Trustee Randy Kuvin said, nor did the letter involve something the board is likely to vote on. Mr. Kuvin e-mailed a draft of the letter to Trustees Bill Morand and Barbara Wilkens Reed, he said. And after they made suggestions, it was e-mailed to the newspapers with all three of their names attached.

        In other initiative-related news, Mr. Kuvin and township resident Faye Smith will go on TV this weekend to discuss the merits of the proposal. Ms. Smith is part of the group that collected enough signatures to ask voters if they'd like to have a five-trustee board instead of a three-trustee board.

        Newsmakers airs 11 a.m. Sunday on WKRC-TV (Channel 12).

        Hurry up, I'm hungry: To keep a Sept. 16 zoning commission meeting swiftly moving when the fate of one of West Chester's four proposed malls was on the table, the board's chairman minced no words.

        David Pickard cautioned the audience before opening the floor up to public comments that he would not tolerate repetitive comments.

        When the same “lifestyle center” — West Chester Market Square, on Cincinnati-Dayton Road off Interstate 75 — was on the agenda at the township's Board of Zoning Appeals meeting this summer, testimony ran until nearly 1 a.m.

        “Otherwise we're going to be here until 3 a.m. and I'm going to get really cranky because I haven't had my dinner yet,” Mr. Pickard told the crowd.

        At that same meeting, two zoning commission members were noticeably absent. Vice Chairman Teri Slick and Joseph Meyer were not there, so a unanimous vote by the remaining members was required for a vote on the mall to pass.

— Jennifer Edwards

        E-mail candrews@enquirer.com.

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