Layshock’s 2nd legal action alleges council met secretly

The mayor’s position should remain vacant until 2011, the Newton Falls law director said.

STAFF REPORT

WARREN — Pat Layshock has filed a second legal action in an effort to be restored to the office of Newton Falls mayor.

This one also accuses Newton Falls City Council of improperly going into executive session — out of the hearing of the public — to talk about possibly removing Layshock from office.

Layshock, who resigned July 6 under pressure from city council and rescinded the resignation July 8, filed one legal action in the 11th District Court of Appeals in July asking to be mayor again.

No ruling has been made in that action.

On Wednesday, Atty. Michael Rossi of Warren filed another action on Layshock’s behalf, this time in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. It also asks for Layshock to be reinstated as mayor. The case is assigned to Judge Peter Kontos.

Rossi said he still believes Magistrate Matthew O. Lamb will rule in Layshock’s favor at the appellate court, but he doesn’t know that he will.

Therefore, the additional action may be necessary, he said.

The part of the newest lawsuit dealing with the Ohio Open-Meetings Law is not included in the earlier lawsuit because the appeals court is not the right court for that type of action, he said.

Richard Schwartz, Newton Falls law director, said he believes Layshock’s legal action should have been filed in common pleas court from the beginning.

By having to answer the earlier action at the appeals court and attend a hearing there, “what they [Layshock and his attorney] did was waste legal fees, in my opinion,” Schwartz said.

The newest lawsuit repeats much of Layshock’s earlier argument, specifically that he should be mayor of Newton Falls because he rescinded his resignation before city council had a chance to accept it.

Schwartz said Thursday that council took action to replace Layshock with Thomas Moorehead, vice president of council, as specified in the city’s charter, because Layshock resigned at the July 6 meeting about 30 to 40 minutes in and didn’t return for any of the two hours of meeting that followed.

Moorehead assumed the position of acting mayor July 6, and the charter calls for the vice president of council to serve as acting mayor until the next appropriate election, which will be the primary and general elections of 2011, Schwartz said.

Because the mayor’s only significant duty is to preside over council meetings and break tie votes of council, the position should remain vacant until 2011, Schwartz said.