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Officials say they will work together
By Jeanne Starmack
CAMPBELL
Council and administrators say they’ll work together to save the city, and they hinted they’ll settle a lawsuit against the mayor over the suspension of the finance director.
Finance Director Sherman Miles, who’s a plaintiff in the suit along with council members, said lawyers are discussing a settlement and that he would agree to one “if everything resolves to my satisfaction.”
Mayor George Krinos, who took office Dec. 1 after beating longtime incumbent Jack Dill, said during the meeting that he thought over the weekend about resigning.
He said he came into office wanting to “maneuver things as fast as possible.”
Krinos has been trying to fire Miles and appoint a new finance director, but council has the final say and supported Miles. The disagreement boiled over after a meeting in March, when Krinos suspended Miles after a shouting match between Miles and a man Krinos had just appointed as assistant finance director, Stephen O’Dea.
Miles fought the suspension by filing the suit in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, asking for a temporary restraining order allowing him to go back to work and an injunction restoring him to the job.
The TRO was granted. The court also ruled O’Dea could not be assistant finance director because council should have had a say in whether the city needed an assistant, according to the city charter.
The hearing on the injunction is set for May 25, but both sides say they believe the suit will be settled before it costs the city any more money in legal fees.
Both sides retained outside attorneys because the situation presented a conflict for city law director Mark Kolmacic, whose job is to represent all city officials and departments.
Council advanced to second readings an ordinance that would allow the lawyer for it and Miles to be paid and an ordinance abolishing the position of assistant finance director from the charter.
Council member Bryan Tedesco voted no on both, saying he hadn’t had enough time to consider them.
Krinos’ outside counsel, the Columbus firm Bricker and Eckler, was paid $5,000 already, Miles said.
But the law firm will reimburse the money, Krinos said. The city’s liability insurance will then pay for it.
Krinos said he now intends to work with Miles on a state-mandated financial-recovery plan.
The recovery plan, which Krinos said in March he was preparing, was supposed to be presented to a state commission that oversees the city’s finances April 26.
When it wasn’t, commission chairman Paul Marshall told the city it would be allowed to spend only 85 percent of what it spent last year for every month there isn’t a plan.
Marshall also said, based on year-to-date spending and a drop in revenues, that the city will run out of money in October if something isn’t done. At that point, he said, the city would have to shut down.