Harrison County Fair Board votes to ban recordings, later says motion will be revised

In a surprise move at the Feb. 2 Harrison County Fair Board meeting, a motion was made and passed unanimously to prohibit anyone, including reporters, from recording meetings. No one objected or questioned the motion when President Richard Eberhart asked for discussion.

Jourdan Shrontz, head of the horse committee, made the motion. After the meeting, she said the idea came from an Ohio Fair Managers Association session she and Eberhart attended.

Shrontz also raised another rule after the meeting that was not part of the motion. She said it also came from the OFMA session and would require a reporter to use the entire recording in a story or not report the story at all. Given that fair board meetings can last two hours or more, such a requirement would be difficult to meet and would conflict with the no-recording motion.

Eberhart later confirmed the guidance was discussed at the OFMA sessions but said he contacted OFMA officials afterward and learned it was a misunderstanding. He said the intent was for no one to record during executive session.

“So, next meeting, of course, we’ll have to revise that motion that was on the floor,” Eberhart said.

Eberhart said he initially understood the guidance to apply to regular meetings but later learned it did not. He said the first session was for presidents only and the second session later in the day sounded similar to what he heard earlier.

Ohio law states that a public body cannot prohibit the public from audio or video recording a public meeting. A public body may establish reasonable rules regulating the use of recording equipment, including requiring equipment to be silent, unobtrusive, self-contained and self-powered to limit interference with others’ ability to hear, see and participate in the meeting.

Eberhart said he did not hear Shrontz make the comment after the meeting about requiring the entire recording to be used, and he said he did not agree with that idea.

“Oh my God, there’s none of us that could do anything about that,” Eberhart said days later.

Attempts to obtain comment from OFMA officials were unsuccessful.