Niles mayor hopes for approval of new recovery plan by next week

NILES

Mayor Thomas Scarnecchia said he hopes to have a decision from the city’s financial supervisors on the viability of his revised financial-recovery plan by “early next week.”

The mayor and city Auditor Giovanne Merlo gave the supervisors their first look at the plan Thursday, at a meeting that lasted three hours.

The supervisors, who are state auditors, must determine if the plan is viable before it can be submitted to city council for approval.

State law requires financial-recovery plans for cities in fiscal emergency, where Niles has been for 16 months.

Scarnecchia opposes several provisions in the current plan that was put together by the mayor’s predecessor, Ralph Infante, shortly before Infante left office.

Neither Scarnecchia nor the auditor would divulge the plan’s contents. “Until we get further discussion and analysis, we can’t comment,” Merlo said.

“We have it, and we’re running the numbers, but I’m not sure how long that will take,” said Carrie Bartunek, communications director for Ohio Auditor Dave Yost. Bartunek also would not discuss the plan’s components.

Last week, Yost sent a strongly worded letter to Scarnecchia warning the mayor he was failing to comply with the law because he would not act on the provisions he opposes.

Read more on the latest development in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.