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Former councilman appointed service director
By Jordan Cohen
and Ed Runyan
NILES
Ed Stredney, who served as Third Ward councilman for 10 years, has been appointed city service director by Mayor Thomas Scarnecchia.
The mayor announced the appointment during a special council meeting Friday. Stredney begins work Monday and will earn $51,048 annually.
The position became vacant when James DePasquale, who had served as safety-service director, was fired earlier this week.
Stredney, 35, has been a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier for three years. He held previous positions in insurance and in project management. In 2015, he started a campaign for mayor, but had to withdraw because of a federal law that prohibits postal service employees from becoming candidates in partisan elections.
“I feel I can do the job [and] I’m not intimidated,” Stredney said, even though the city has been in fiscal emergency for more than two years. “I believe in the mayor’s vision for the city, but I think we need a viable plan,” he said.
As service director, Stredney will be responsible for the city’s troubled and aging infrastructure, particularly the water department, which experienced more than 100 main breaks last year. He may also have to cross swords with the same council members he served alongside for a decade.
“I’ll do what’s best for the city of Niles,” he said. “I’m not there to make friends.”
The mayor earlier announced the appointment of retired Niles police officer George Kaniclides as safety director, at $12,000 for the part-time position. Kaniclides also is a former major with the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office.
Scarnecchia had promised earlier not to rehire any retired employees, and denied he was breaking his promise by hiring Kaniclides.
“He’s not getting any benefits, so I don’t see where there’s a problem,” he told council Wednesday.
On Friday, Niles City Council gave only a first reading to legislation separating the service and safety director positions and setting their salaries.
Council will meet again at 5 p.m. Monday and 5 p.m. Tuesday to give the measure second and third readings and passage.
Councilwoman Linda Marchese was the lone holdout in a 5-1 vote on whether to suspend the rules requiring three readings.
Earlier in the meeting, she questioned Scarnecchia on whether the extra $12,000 per year was available to pay a separate safety director and whether the position was needed.
Scarnecchia said yes to both questions, saying communication with the safety forces has been lacking without a safety director.
Scarnecchia also has said the city’s board of control, which consists of the mayor, safety director and service director, cannot approve expenditures of city money without at least two of them being at a meeting.
DePasquale, hired as service director when Scarnecchia became mayor, also took on the safety director job at no additional pay when the former safety director retired, leaving just two people to vote to approve expenditures.