YOUNGSTOWN CITY COUNCIL Leader aims to block swearing in of Boles

YOUNGSTOWN -- Councilman-elect Clarence Boles said he's planning to be sworn in Monday to his new 6th Ward seat after a Democratic precinct committee's unanimous vote Saturday to place him in the vacant position for the rest of the year.
But Lisa Antonini, chairwoman of the Mahoning County Democratic Party, said the committee meeting to elect Boles was not legal according to state law.
She said she'll contact all three Youngstown Municipal Court judges Monday morning to advise them before they agree to conduct a swearing-in ceremony for Boles.
Andrew Douglas, 6th Ward district leader for the precinct, called the committee meeting Saturday to fill the spot left vacant when former 6th Ward Councilman James E. Fortune resigned Nov. 28 to assume the duties of council president.
Four of the eight ward committee persons attended, and members voted 4-0 in favor of putting Boles in the seat immediately.
Douglas acknowledged that the committee meeting normally would have been called by Antonini, but he decided to step in when she announced last week that the job would be left open through the end of the year.
Ohio law
Contacted after the meeting Saturday, Antonini argued the meeting was illegal and its action not binding because the Ohio Revised Code requires that precinct committee meetings be called by the party chairman or secretary. She said Douglas also violated a requirement that members be given a four-day notice.
Antonini said she decided not to schedule a meeting to fill the 6th Ward seat because she felt placing Boles in office early would give him a seniority advantage over two other newly elected council members.
Seniority is sometimes a criteria when council considers committee assignments and other decisions.
Antonini said council is not expected to decide on any major issues concerning the 6th Ward this month, and she has asked Fortune to assist ward residents with any problems they might encounter before year's end.
Douglas and the three other committee members argued, however, that ward residents need someone to call when they have a problem.
He said he'll go to the Mahoning County Board of Elections when it opens Monday morning to report the vote result.
Boles said after the vote that his only goal is to represent the 6th Ward. "I've said from the beginning, let the people speak," he said. "The precinct committee people represent the people."
Antonini said the regular swearing-in for new council members is scheduled next Saturday, and she believes Boles will have to wait until then to take office.