BAZETTA TOWNSHIP Ex-chief files suit, saying he was fired without cause

The suit contends trustees abused their discretion.
WARREN -- The former Bazetta Township police chief has filed a lawsuit saying township trustees had no grounds to get rid of him.
Robert Jacola filed the lawsuit Tuesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. The suit has been assigned to Judge W. Wyatt McKay. No hearing date has been set.
Neither trustees nor the township's legal counsel, Mark Finamore, could be reached.
Jacola and his attorney, Gilbert W.R. Rucker III, declined to comment.
The suit states trustees abused their discretion by firing Jacola without cause. The trustees also failed to inform Jacola they were planning to fire him, the court documents say.
According to an affidavit attached to the lawsuit, trustees conducted a special meeting April 28 and voted to fire Jacola.
He says news of his firing was delivered to him by the press and he was not notified by trustees of the termination until he got a letter May 15. The letter was dated May 8.
Trustee Bill Glancy said at the time he voted to fire Jacola because the township needs a chief.
Jacola, 56, chief for 10 years, has been off work since April 2, 2002, because of a work-related injury.
The firing was a result of Jacola's filing a workers' compensation claim, the affidavit states.
In their letter to Jacola, the trustees thanked him for his years of service to the township and wished him a "speedy recovery."