Newton Falls mayor dispute set for Monday court date

STAFF REPORT

WARREN — An expedited hearing is set for 9:30 a.m. Monday for lawyers representing the two men who say they are mayor of Newton Falls to argue their case before Ohio’s 11th District Court of Appeals.

Judge Colleen Mary O’Toole issued a judgment entry Tuesday saying the court cannot wait the normal amount of time to decide the issue contained in the lawsuit and has set a hearing for 10 days after the case was filed.

The case, filed July 24 by Pat Layshock, the three-term Newton Falls mayor who resigned the job July 6 but rescinded the resignation early July 8, asked the court to determine who is the rightful mayor — him or Thomas Moorehead, the city council’s vice president, who assumed the position July 8, when city council accepted Layshock’s resignation.

Layshock argues that council didn’t have the authority to accept his resignation, since he had already rescinded it.

Moorehead could not be reached to comment.

Normally the court would wait 28 days for Moorhead’s attorney to respond in written form to Layshock’s complaint, but “it is possible the efficient administration of the municipal government could be adversely affected by the present dispute,” Judge O’Toole wrote in her judgment entry.

The hearing will address the questions of whether Moorhead should remain as mayor while the issue is being resolved by the court and what type of procedure should be employed to resolve the matter as quickly as possible, the judgment entry says.

The hearing will take place in the Court of Appeals courtroom, 111 High St., Warren. Magistrate Matthew O. Lamb will preside over the hearing.