Girard's financial crisis is a test of leadership

It would be funny if it weren't so sad.
Girard Mayor James Melfi and municipal court Judge Michael A. Bernard have locked horns again -- over the same old issue -- but this time there's a new twist. The battle has become personal.
Until now, it was all about who was right insofar as the debt on the justice center was concerned. The mayor had said the court is supposed to pay 50 percent of the cost, which he pegged at $5.2 million. The judge had countered that he is only obligated to pay 35 percent of a $4.5 million price tag. And so it went, until last week.
That's when the two elected officials exchanged fire -- with big guns. Bernard accused Melfi of trying to influence him on two cases in his court, one involving a relative of the mayor's and a second involving a family member of city Safety Director Frank Rich. The judge refused to elaborate on the alleged influence attempt, but said that he threw the mayor out of his office after the second incident.
Investigation: Melfi vehemently denies that any such incidents took place and said that he plans to call for an investigation by the FBI, the Ohio attorney general or some other agency. And, he wonders why the judge just didn't arrest him or have the incidents investigated.
The way Melfi tells it, Bernard is angry with him because he refused to support the judge's plan to erect a $20,000 sign naming the justice center for his father, a retired judge.
So, what's so sad about two top officials in Girard battling in public? Well, the city is in the midst of an economic crisis -- state Auditor Jim Petro has declared a state of fiscal emergency -- and it will be at least two years before it can expect to shed the state's shackles.
A seven-member fiscal planning and supervision commission is in charge of the city's treasury, which makes the Melfi-Bernard clash an embarrassing sideshow. At a time when local officials need to demonstrate to the state that they have the ability to lead and to manage, the mayor and the judge are letting their personal feelings come in the way of their public responsibilities.
It is time for the commission, which has access to the city's books, to determine once and all what it cost to build the justice center and what the court should pay for occupying the building.
As for the charges leveled against the mayor by the judge, they are serious and warrant an independent investigation.
Meanwhile, Bernard and Melfi need to find a way to work together.