Warren still works on park gun ban

A months-old bill for legal services also is expected to come up at tonight's meeting.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- An ordinance that would prohibit guns in city parks needs more work.
Councilmen Gary Fonce, D-at large, and Robert Holmes III, D-4th, requested the legislation, because of the new Ohio law that allows those with the proper license to carry a concealed weapon.
The state law prohibits the guns in government buildings, schools and other places but doesn't mention parks, Holmes said.
"As many kids as you have playing baseball in a park, I don't feel it's a place guns should be allowed," Holmes said.
First reading
Law Director Greg Hicks requested at council's finance committee meeting Tuesday that the ordinance get first reading at tonight's regular council meeting.
"There are some concerns about how this relates to the law," Hicks said. "We're reviewing it with the Ohio Municipal League. We want to make sure we have it right."
A section of the law says that a municipal corporation can't make laws against the state law.
Hicks believes the intent of that provision was to prevent municipalities from instituting a citywide ban on the guns.
"This law is new to everyone," Hicks said.
Some other cities including Cleveland have expressed concerns that the state law would override ordinances they have in place that prohibit guns in parks.
Holmes agreed to seek first reading at tonight's meeting.
Settling a bill
Also at Tuesday's finance committee meeting, Councilman Alford L. Novak, D-2nd, renewed his effort to have removed from the table an ordinance that would enable the city to settle a bill from last year.
Atty. Dwight Davis of Cleveland represented the city last year in a disciplinary hearing concerning police Chief John Mandopoulos before the city's Civil Service Commission.
The city still owes Davis $7,425, but council hasn't approved the legislation to pay it.
Then-Mayor Hank Angelo had recommended Mandopoulos get 10 days off work for his behavior outside a now-closed U.S. 422 nightclub and for comments he made to a television reporter.
The chief appealed Angelo's decision, necessitating the hearing.
"The bottom line is a person performed a task and it's a matter of paying a vendor," said Mayor Michael J. O'Brien. "It is preferable to pay the bill rather than have to defend why we didn't pay it."
The law department didn't handle the hearing because it was a conflict of interest, Hicks has said.
Councilwoman Susan E. Hartman, D-7th, and Councilman James A. "Doc" Pugh, D-6th, believe the money should come out of the law department's budget.
"It was budgeted out of the personnel department because the personnel department was the one that took the action against the chief," Auditor David Griffing said.
Both O'Brien and Safety-Service Director Doug Franklin assured council members that disciplinary hearings would be conducted in-house unless there are special circumstances that require special counsel. If that happens, Franklin said, he would inform council of what's happening.