From The Cincinnati Enquirer Should local governments be allowed to meet in secret to discuss economic incentives granted to private corporations?
That's the question some are asking after Mason's city council met March 17 in a closed-door session to discuss a $34 million incentives package for consumer product giant Procter & Gamble.
Legal experts say that when it comes to public tax breaks, deliberations of those matters should be subject to public scrutiny.
"When you don't take money from your businesses, you have to make up the funds elsewhere. That clearly is a matter of public debate and is certainly a matter of public interest," said Christo Lassiter, a law professor at the University of Cincinnati.
Some legal experts say the issue could be among the first to call into question the scope of a provision passed in the 2014-2015 state budget that created an exception to the state's Open Meetings Act.