Cincinnati City Councilwoman Tamaya Dennard was the center of attention during Thursday's council meeting when an officer from the state auditor's office attempted to serve her with a summons.

Dennard, knowing the officer was looking for her, did not go into council chambers. Instead, her chief of staff advised the clerk of council, who keeps attendance, that Dennard would need to be excused. Once attendance was read, the officer, who was from State Auditor Keith Faber's office, left.

As the officer drove off, this reporter and an Enquirer photographer saw Dennard come from the direction of 9th Street, just outside of City Hall, to her car, which was parked in front of the main entrance.

When asked why she wasn't at the council meeting, which was in session, Dennard said, "You know I don't like you," and then told this reporter to go away. Then Dennard drove off.

Later, an attorney representing Dennard, Erik Laursen, emailed The Enquirer and wrote, "Please know that Ms. Dennard arranged with the process server to meet at my office and no way did she 'avoid' him."

That meeting happened in Laursen's office Thursday afternoon.

There is no penalty for missing council meetings. When members asked to be excused, they simply are.

The officer serving the summons declined to comment, but his badge indicated he was with the state auditor's office. Additionally, the envelope in his hand had a sticky note with the name Pat Hanley, the special prosecutor who is looking into whether Dennard and four other members of council were derelict in their duty when they texted among themselves throughout 2018 about city business.

That investigation is ongoing and no charges have been filed.

In 2018, a citizen filed a lawsuit against the five council members – Dennard, P.G. Sittenfeld, Wendell Young, Greg Landsman and Chris Seelbach – that resulted in them admitting they violated Ohio's Open Meetings Act. The admission brought a $10,000 fine for destruction of records from Young's phone, a $1,000 fine for the violation and $90,000 in attorney fees.

After that, Faber reviewed the case and in December recommended an investigation into whether the texting and hiring outside attorneys with taxpayer money rose to the level of deriliction of duty. Hanley was assigned to oversee the investigation.