CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Board of Revision member Brigid O'Malley delayed hearings by 45 minutes for taxpayers challenging their property assessments Wednesday when she tried banning a Plain Dealer photographer from taking her picture at a public meeting.



O'Malley stormed out of the room before 10 a.m. when she learned the newspaper had planned to take pictures for its investigation of the boards of revision. Moments later, she returned and said the county prosecutor ruled that pictures could not be taken of the meeting.

The newspaper objected.

O'Malley then went behind closed doors with a trio of board administrators. The panel's two other board members, Jennifer Price and Gary Paulenske, didn't object to the photos.

Frustrated taxpayers waited in the hallway. Tom Leland of Beachwood shook his head over the delay.

"I'm just astounded," he said.

Dan Geller of Orange bristled.

"It's a disappointment," said Geller, the owner of Fish Furniture. "It's disgusting."

After speaking with O'Malley, administrators allowed the photographer inside the hearing room. O'Malley leaned back in her chair and blocked her face with a binder for most of the 10-minute hearing. She peeked over the binder when the camera stopped clicking.

O'Malley, 54, declined to comment afterward.

The three-member board meets Monday through Friday and hears cases throughout the day.

County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora appointed O'Malley to a board in 2003. She is paid $64,334 a year. The commissioners and county auditor and treasurer make appointments to the boards. The county's five boards do some of the most important jobs in government by hearing challenges to the property values set by the county auditor.

The boards have come under fire since July after one member was accused of altering a document to shave $31,000 from the value of a townhouse. State and county investigators launched a criminal investigation.

The probe expanded after the newspaper reported that some members had been working fewer hours than required. One resigned after telling the newspaper that he had been working a part-time job at a radio station on county time.

O'Malley averaged fewer than four hours a day on the job on more than 400 days between 2008 and 2010, records show. Detectives are exploring how often she worked.