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Ouster proposed for Falls councilmen
NEWTON FALLS
A motion to hire an interim city manager without a background check and temporarily without pay has sparked a controversy with Newton Falls City Council.
Motions on the agenda of today’s 5 p.m. special meeting charge the three legislators who hired the new manager with contempt of council.
Motions also propose charging the three councilmen, Joseph Battisti, 1st Ward; John Baryak, 2nd Ward; andMark Stimpert, 3rd Ward, with violation of council rules and starting proceedings for their removal from office.
Another proposal that Mayor Lyle Waddell will present would charge Stimpert with malfeasance and misfeasance in office; and Battisti and Baryak with misfeasance in office.
Waddell said the majority of the five-man council passed an ordinance to hire David Lynch, a Euclid attorney who has never been a city manager.
Waddell also said Lynch was hired to replace the city’s current city manager, Jack Haney, whose contract council did not renew, without input from other members of council and against the advice of Law Director A. Joseph Fritz who said it could leave the city “open to liability.”
However, previously Baryak said Fritz was involved in the process of hiring Lynch. Waddell said Lynch was given a four-year contract paying him $87,000 a year, and giving him five weeks of vacation, a $250,000 life insurance policy, and use of a city vehicle, and while he is the former mayor of Euclid, he has never been a city manager, the mayor said.
Waddell said one of the reasons Lynch proponents want to rush legislation to hire Lynch is that under Newton Falls’ charter the city is required to have a city manager.
In the past, the city has appointed a city employee as interim city manager to meet that requirement in between permanent city managers.
“It doesn’t make any sense to me. It’s unbelievable they would put someone on the job without experience and without protection for the city,” said the mayor.