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Newton Falls council divided over replacing city manager
By Ed Runyan
VIENNA
A divided Newton Falls City Council will conduct interviews starting at 3 p.m. today with several candidates for the city manager’s job.
Council is divided over whether the present city manager, Jack Haney, should be retained, with members voting 3-2 earlier this year not to renew Haney’s contract, which expires at the end of this year. Haney has been city manager since 2007.
Lyle Waddell, Newton Falls mayor, said it appears that three members of council want Haney out — Jim Luonuansuu, Richard Monteville and Mary Ann Johnson — and have a candidate in mind with whom they would like to replace him.
Waddell said the members were prepared to hire their candidate earlier this month but eventually agreed to accept r sum s and interview other candidates. As of Wednesday, the city had received 21 of them, Waddell said.
Haney is among those whom council will interview, but if he retains the job, it may be at a reduced salary, Waddell said.
At the April 4 meeting, Luonuansuu said he thought Haney’s salary of $92,000 per year was excessive for the size of the city he manages.
The two council members who voted against nonrenewal of Haney’s contract at the April 4 council meeting are Richard Zamecnik and Nancy Hoffman.
Johnson said she she’s not satisfied with the work Haney has done, saying she’s “leaning toward replacing him.”
“I think it’s time to move on to another city manager — someone who can bring business in or keep businesses here. We’re at a standstill. It seems like nothing gets done,” she said.
She added, “The people sending in r sum s seem quite ready to get with it, and get on with what they can do. I’ve made it quite clear I don’t want [Haney] up there.”
Johnson said Haney is being allowed to interview for his job as a “courtesy.”
Zamecnik said Haney has succeeded in obtaining around $350,000 in grants per year during his tenure with the city.
Furthermore, Haney is trained in public administration, unlike the person Luonuansuu, Monteville and Johnson appear to want in the job.
Two of the leading candidates are former Newton Falls superintendents, and they are trained as educators, Zamecnik said. They are among three village residents applying for the job, Waddell said.
One of them is former Newton Falls superintendent David Wilson, who was Newton Falls mayor from 1986 to 1990 and also served on council.
Zamecnik said Luonuansuu, Monteville and Johnson vote together either all or nearly all of the time, so he feels powerless to chose who will be city manager.
Waddell said he feels Haney has “done a really good job since he’s been here” and enjoys the support of the public much more than many of the city managers of the past.