Watchdog Led Charge Against Gas Wells in Highland Heights Park

For a couple of nights earlier this year, City Council chambers overflowed with more than 200 residents protesting a proposal to put two gas wells in the city's park.

Those crowds are gone now and the audience is back to a handful of people, including Amy Feran. The spokeswoman for Love Our Green Space – the citizen group that successfully fought the wells – has been a fixture watching over city officials for almost five years.

"I came of age at the end of the 1960s and 1970s. People wanted to make the world a better place by getting involved. The truth mattered. That is the context I went to law school with," said Feran, an attorney whose day job is conducting computerized legal research for LexisNexis.

Feran had tried to change the system from within, serving on the  school board from 1996-1999 and running for city council in 2009. She also served seven years on Highland Heights' Tax Incentive Review Board. But she found her niche as an outsider blogging about city issues.

She said her impact on the gas well issue was greater because she was a citizen rather than an elected official.

"On council I would not be able to do what I did to oppose it," she said. "You have to  be a team player to a certain extent in order to get things done. You can't actively sabotage your colleagues and expect to get anything done."

Although she had joined the school board because she thought money was being spent too freely, Feran was out of the public spotlight in 2007 when the city entered into a lease for two gas wells in Highland Heights Community Park. Since then, she's kept a close eye on everything happening at city hall, not just the gas well issue.

"I realized that this happened because no one was watching," she said. "I would email updates about the gas wells to the LOGS group and then other things started catching my eye."

She was particularly upset that no public hearings were held to get public input on the gas well lease.

"I think what upset me the most is that they never talked to residents," she said. "It's a prime example of an insiders club making private decisions."

A regular critic of Mayor Scott Coleman, Feran said she harbors no ill will toward him but only wants him to acknowledge his errors.

"We all make mistakes – own up to it," she said. "That doesn't mean I hate him. He's not a bad guy."

Feran pointed out that LOGS was a group effort. She was the member tapped to attend council meetings to keep others informed, and, with the matter likely to be decided in the courts, because of her law degree.

"There were a lot of people involved in the petition drive (which led to a 2008 charter amendment protecting the park)," she said. "It really was a collaborative thing."

Still, she takes pride in her role of convincing city officials to opt for a $600,000 settlement with Bass Energy rather than have wells drilled in the park.

"I just smile when I think about it," she said. "How many people have the opportunity to really have any impact in their community?"