Layshock hearings to resume in May

By Ed Runyan

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Layshock

runyan@vindy.com

Newton Falls

Hearings resume next month in the misdemeanor criminal case brought by the Ohio Ethics Commission against former Newton Falls Mayor Pat Layshock, accusing him of influence peddling involving his brother, Ken Layshock.

The charges say Pat Layshock participated directly and indirectly in meetings, discussions, deliberations and other actions from Jan. 22, 2009, to Feb. 23, 2009, “intended to benefit the business interests” of his brother.

Council members and officials were at odds over a variety of issues at the time, many of them related to the performance of city officials such as city Manager Jack Haney and Police Chief John Kuivila.

On July 6, 2009, Layshock resigned as mayor but quickly attempted to rescind the resignation, which touched off months of legal battles that eventually resulted in Layshock’s being restored to the job in late 2009. Layshock later was voted out in a special election in November 2010.

Tom Moorehead, a member of council in 2009, says he thinks Pat Layshock “crossed the line” ethically on multiple occasions in 2009 — when Pat Layshock helped set up meetings and openly talked to officials about a business deal in which Ken Layshock and a business partner were trying to attract a Forum Health medical facility on state Route 534 south of the Pamida store.

Ken Layshock stood to gain financially from the deal, so Pat Layshock should have taken a “hands off” approach, Moorehead said.

The matter came to a head at a council meeting Feb. 23, according to meeting minutes.

“Mayor Layshock asked if an executive session was needed to give the City Manager direction to keep this on the fast track since all property owners are in agreement,” the minutes read. The topic to be discussed was annexation of land from Newton Township into the city for the Forum Health project.

Moorehead, opposed to meeting in executive session on the matter, said “the conflict could be that the mayor’s brother owns one of the properties involved ...”

Moorehead last week said his comments at the time were meant to stop Layshock from saying anything that could jeopardize the project.

Julie Korte, chief investigator for the Ohio Ethics Commission and special assistant prosecutor in the Layshock case, declined to comment on specifics of the charges.

Pat Layshock also declined to comment. Ken Layshock did not return a phone call seeking comment.

A visiting judge, Barbara R. Watson from Portage County, is hearing the case in Newton Falls Municipal Court. The next pretrial hearing will be at 11 a.m. May 4.

Moorehead said he supported the proposed health-care center and feared that if someone questioned Layshock’s involvement, council’s actions might be deemed “null and void.” Moorehead said he wasn’t the person who referred the matter to the Ohio Ethics Commission.

Moorehead said he wanted Layshock to “just stay out of it so nobody could point a finger as far as it being a conflict.”

Moorehead attended a meeting Pat Layshock organized in February 2009 that occurred at the Saratoga Restaurant in Warren regarding the project. Pat Layshock organized a similar meeting at Roby Lee’s restaurant in Newton Falls, Moorehead and others said.

Officials from Forum Health, the city of Newton Falls, the office of U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, and others talked at the Saratoga about whether federal money could be used to provide the water, sanitary sewer and road improvements that would be needed for the project to move forward, said Moorehead and Haney.

The city’s application to the federal government for the $631,965 in projects was ultimately rejected. No annexation petition was ever filed, and the project never happened, Haney said Wednesday.

At a Newton Falls council meeting March 30, 2009, Ken Layshock, of Newton Falls, was unapologetic for his brother’s setting up meetings on the project.

“Mr. [Ken] Layshock stated that he and his partner have been trying for years to get a health care facility into town. If it had not been for Pat getting them in contact and meeting with Forum Health they would not be coming here,” the minutes said.