Newton Falls officials squabble in and out of the courtroom

WARREN — The legal filings brought against Newton Falls City Council members by former mayor Pat Layshock and several other people boiled over Wednesday in the reception area of the Trumbull County Courthouse, as the city’s law director angrily confronted Layshock.

“Don’t tell me. Tell these guys they did something wrong,” Law Director Rick Schwartz said to Layshock, referring to the two council members in the hallway being accused of acting improperly in their positions as council members.

Layshock didn’t respond, as someone pulled him away.

The outburst occurred after a hearing before Judge Thomas A. Swift in the Trumbull County Probate Court. The complaint at issue Wednesday was not filed by Layshock, but is similar to a lawsuit Layshock filed in Common Pleas Court and another he filed in the 11th District Court of Appeals.

Both suits ask for Layshock to be reinstated as Newton Falls mayor, but one of them also accuses city council of improperly meeting in private to talk about his performance as mayor.

The hearing Wednesday was on a filing by Jim Luonuansuu, a council candidate, and four other Newton Falls residents, asking that council members Thomas Moorehead and Catie Karl-Moran be removed from office for various actions they took relating to Layshock, including private discussions with other council members regarding Layshock’s job performance.

Read more in Thursday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com