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Both sides hope briefs will help resolve dispute
By jeanne starmack
campbell
Both sides in a legal dispute between the city’s finance director and mayor are trying to resolve the case by submitting briefs to the court.
By submitting briefs that include stipulations both sides agree on, they may be able to avoid a hearing and save money, said Atty. John Juhasz.
Juhasz, who is representing the finance director and the five city council members as co-plaintiffs, said both sides have agreed to the method of working out the dispute. The case stems from an attempt by Mayor George Krinos to suspend finance director Sherman Miles without pay after a shouting match at a council meeting in April.
Krinos alleged Miles engaged in behavior unbecoming a public offi-cial when he got into an argument with Stephen O’Dea. Krinos had announced in the meeting that he was appointing O’Dea, a former city finance director, to the post of assistant finance director.
O’Dea and Miles argued after the meeting was abruptly adjourned because the crowd there got disorderly.
Krinos had previously tried to replace Miles by making O’Dea finance director. Krinos had been trying to replace Miles since he took office in December, having chosen two other candidates for the post before picking O’Dea.
But the city council, which has the last word over who gets the job, would not allow Krinos to replace Miles.
Council, along with Miles, fought the suspension, and they won a temporary restraining order that allowed him to return to work. The restraining order also prevented O’Dea from becoming assistant finance director, with Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge Lou D’Apolito ruling that council should have a say over whether the city needs to fill that position. It was previously unfilled.
The case was set twice, most recently Aug. 25, for a hearing on a permanent injunction allowing Miles to stay on the job. But the hearing was postponed.
Juhasz said earlier this week that if both sides can agree that certain facts are true or that witnesses would give certain testimony, they will present those agreements, or stipulations, to the court.
He did not want to be specific about the stipulations.