Facebook comment brings abrupt and dramatic end to Loveland City Council meeting

A Facebook comment prompted a city council in Southwest Ohio to abruptly end its meeting. 

The mayor called the comment "incendiary" and a "personal attack." Residents, who booed when the meeting was adjourned, accused the mayor and his allies of overreacting. 

And it all happened in Loveland. 

Just after the city council convened its meeting Tuesday, Mayor Mark Fitzgerald read a public statement regarding the “threat posted by an individual” on Facebook. He condemned Councilman Rob Weisgerber on whose page the so-called threatening post was made.

Fitzgerald, the embattled mayor of the city of 12,400 just north of Cincinnati, said Weisgerber's failure to scold the commenter amounted to a tacit endorsement.  At the end of his statement, council voted 4-3 to adjourn without discussion or an opportunity for Weisgerber to comment.

The June 22 Facebook comment in question was directed toward Councilwoman Pam Gross and was in response to a post by Weisgerber.

In the post, Weisgerber noted Gross had made a public records request for documents and email exchanges between himself and others. The prompted a commenter to write:  “Trying to pull another fast one with intimidation. She nerds (sic) a good old fashion Loveland ass kicking 80s style lol.”

Gross said that as a woman and councilwoman, she took the “threat” seriously.

“Anytime they say they’re going to beat you up is unnerving and is not something that is dismissive,” she said.

Gross brought the post to the attention of the Loveland Police Department.

“We were not sure that it rose to the level of a criminal act,” said Chief Dennis Sean Rahe.  The department sought the opinion of the Clermont County prosecutor’s office which also said the comment did not rise to the level of a criminal offense, Rahe said.

The investigation is closed.

An election year in Loveland

Fitzgerald said the Facebook comment was the “straw that broke the camel’s back.” He called the comment “threatened violence.”

“The toxicity of social media is extremely unfortunate,” Fitzgerald told The Enquirer Wednesday. 

Fitzgerald and Gross both cited the recent shooting of Republican congressmen at a baseball practice as part of the escalating violence in the nation

Cassandra Dahnke, co-founder of the Institute for Civility in Government in Houston, Texas, said concern about threatening social media comments is justified.

“We reach a tipping point and someone who can’t differentiate between a person venting, however inappropriate, and a call to action will take it upon themselves to do something,” Dahnke said.

Weisgerber, who only recently made his Facebook page public, said his post generated a lot more interest than he expected. When he saw the comment in question, he said it did stand out but he didn’t interpret it as an actual threat. The overall conversation was more about process.

Following the abrupt end to the council meeting, Weisgerber and two other councilmembers remained at the table to speak with residents. Some residents booed and jeered as the mayor and three other council members adjourned from the meeting.

The mayor’s statement and the adjournment were not about the Facebook post, Weisgerber said.

“My perspective, this was preplanned to put me in a no-win position,” he said.

This is an election year in Loveland with four seats, including that of Weisgerber and Gross, up for grabs. Fitzgerald is in the second of a four-year term but is the subject of a recall petition drive.

Halie Rebeccaschild  is the secretary of the political action committee Loveland Community Heartbeat, the group behind the petition drive to recall the mayor. She called the abrupt ending of the council meeting a “very sad situation."

“It was a failure on their part to respond in a productive way around social media threats or violent language in general,” she said. “They had an opportunity to have a productive discussion about how we, as a community, can resolve differences rationally and diplomatically. That conversation didn’t take place. It was a missed opportunity.”

She also said it was “theatrics to avoid the community.”

The next Loveland Council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 11,in Loveland City Hall, 120 W. Loveland Ave.