Mahoning County Commissioner John McNally filed a lawsuit on Thursday against two fellow colleagues.
An empty chair sits between John McNally and George Tablack at a commissioners meeting, symbolizing a physical barrier and showing the tension between the two. At one point, Tablack even hands over his office key to McNally, pretty much saying take what you want.
It's a nice bit of theater, but McNally said he doesn't need a key to the office, just the documents he requested.
"I was very sincere about giving him a key to the office," Tablack said. "The theater is this lawsuit."
"My whole goal is to get the documents I requested," McNally said. "It's not my job to chase people down for the request I make."
McNally said he asked for documents about the Oak Hill Renaissance Place in April and that Tablack and Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul Gains have repeatedly denied him.
"I can't make these decisions without seeing documents I want," McNally said. "Other people might not need it, but when I ask to see something, I expect to see it."
Tablack said with thousands of documents to sort through, it's taking a lot of time. He said he wished McNally would have asked him personally about the status of the request, instead of filing a lawsuit.
"With the challenges we have in county government and as hard as we all work, the last thing we need is to be lawyer-ed inside our county government," Tablack said.
He said he will comply with the request, while McNally said he's willing to drop the suit once he gets the records. A hearing on the issue is scheduled for Aug. 11.
