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NILES -- A regular city council meeting's Zoom video was forced to be cut short Wednesday night when its display showed what appeared to be a nude image of a man.
Law Director Phil Zuzulo said Thursday officials are in the process of filing a police report with the Niles Police Department, with Councilman Aaron Johnstone, D-2nd Ward, as the initiator.
"I have drafted subpoenas to go out tomorrow, to Zoom, to try and locate -- see if we're able to locate -- the IP address, or at least get an idea of what their IP address is," Zuzulo said.
"Maybe at least their location is local; is it out (of the city)? My fear is, they're going to spoof these IP addresses."
Zuzulo said a Zoom feature called Whiteboard appears to be the culprit, noting that officials weren't aware of it at the time.
The feature allows the meeting's attendees to screen share, although the host can disable it for everyone but the meeting's host.
Officials went to the meeting room's back rooms to speak with the city's information technology worker, who Zuzulo said was trying to prevent the imagery from popping up, but it would continue to show from a different account.
Zuzulo said he told the employee to shut Zoom down so officials could resume the meeting, adding that the meeting's audio was still available.
Video recording from the meeting might not be available while the investigation is ongoing, adding that the action is a potential felony charge -- Ohio Revised Code 2907.32 -- pandering of obscene material.
"If you put it out knowing that, or you're reckless that this kind of information could be seen by the public, then you've got a problem," Zuzulo said. "There's also criminal misdemeanors -- disrupting a public meeting."
Zuzulo said city officials plan to try to resume recording their meetings in September, adding that their IT employee is planning to do testing to ensure the problem is resolved.
Johnstone said he sent an email to employees stating the city needs to respond in some manner, including police Chief Jay Holland on the message.
Johnstone said Holland, who is out of town, directed him to Capt. John Marshall and police officials will use the official police report to subpoena Zoom for the IP addresses involved in the disrupted meeting.
Johnstone said the report is expected to be filed today.