In May, the North Royalton City Council called for a review of the remaining proposed Charter Amendment that was submitted by the Charter Review Committee. According to the City’s Charter, a Collaborative Committee could be called in the event of a disagreement between the Charter Review Committee and the majority of Council. The proposed amendment must go to the ballot, but the verbiage of the proposal can be changed before the amendment is approved by Council, which will then be submitted to the voters. Council does not have authority to defeat the proposal.
The date of the Collaborative Committee had been stalled, as a question of whether Council President Paul Marnecheck should recuse himself from the meeting, as the passage of the amendment on the November ballot, could directly affect him, as it was written. According to the City’s Charter, the Council President, as well as two representatives from Council and two representatives from the Charter Review Committee should comprise a Collaborative Committee, if called for.
On May 28, Law Director Tom Kelly sent a memorandum to Marnecheck and all of Council on the question of recusal of Marnecheck from the Collaborative Committee. In the missive, Kelly cited the case, Center for Powell Crossing LLC v. City of Powell, stating that “having reviewed the law and such facts as may be clearly known, I am not persuaded that Paul Marnecheck, as the duly elected President of Council, ought to be advised that he is conflicted from serving and doing the duty imposed upon him by clear and certain Charter language.” He then cited Fuldauer v. Cleveland, saying, “I do see the very strong possibility of the appearance of impropriety and would therefore recommend that he voluntarily recuse and avoid even that appearance.” Kelly then recommended that Marnecheck seek his own private counsel to consider his legal rights. Marnecheck did seek counsel, who recommended he seek a ruling from the Ohio Ethics Commission. Kelly summarized at the end of the memorandum, stating, “it is my opinion and you are so advised that I find 1) that the Charter mandates the participation of the Council President in the Collaborative Committee, and 2) that no compelling conflict of interest currently exists that requires Paul Marnecheck to recuse himself from the Collaborative Committee.”
A meeting was set for July 7 for the Collaborative Committee. Council appointed Ward 6 Council Rep Mike Wos and Ward 3 Council Rep Joanne Krejci to the Committee. Ward 2 Council Rep Linda Barath was also chosen to fill the position of Marnecheck, if he chose to recuse himself. The Charter Review Committee representatives to the meeting were Joel Spatz and Michael Michalski. Marnecheck did not get an advisory opinion from the Ethics Committee by the time the meeting took place and decided to participate in the meeting. When asked about his decision to participate in the committee, Marnecheck stated, “first off, I want to publicly express my gratitude to the whole North Royalton Law Department, specifically our Law Director Tom Kelly and Assistant Law Director Todd A. Schrader for their work and guidance throughout this whole experience. As I have done in the past, and plan to continue to do, I did seek their insights. Since the Charter requires the President of Council to participate in the Collaborative Committee, as well as the fact that I am not aware of any compelling conflict of interest, I was comfortable participating. I wish the outcome of this whole experience had been more in line with the views and feeling of the hundreds of residents who attended meetings, wrote letters, and shared their disagreement with this confusing attempt to exclude people from being able to serve on City Council.”
During the meeting, the Committee voted not to entertain public comment. After much discussion, the Committee agreed upon language, offered by Wos, who said he wordsmithed it without input from the Law Department. Assistant North Royalton Law Director, Todd Schrader, who assisted the Committee, said it would move forward after the review of North Royalton Law Director, Tom Kelly. The following is the proposed language, which is awaiting approval from the North Royalton City Council. The ballot language is as follows:
SHALL THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NORTH ROYALTON BE AMENDED TO PROHIBIT ANY OTHER PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT AS A QUALIFICATION FOR ELECTION TO CITY COUNCIL:
ARTICLE III, THE COUNCIL, SUBSECTION (b) TO READ IN PART:
CANDIDATES FOR COUNCIL SHALL HAVE RESIDED IN THE MUNICIPALITY AND HAVE BEEN AN ELECTOR THEREOF FOR A PERIOD OF AT LEAST TWO (2) YEARS NEXT PRECEDING HIS OR HER ELECTION. EACH WARD COUNCIL MEMBER MUST HAVE LIVED IN HIS OR HER WARD AT LEAST ONE (1) YEAR PRIOR TO ELECTION AND MUST CONTINUE TO LIVE IN THE WARD HE OR SHE REPRESENTS DURING HIS OR HER ENTIRE TERM OF OFFICE. NO MEMBER OF COUNCIL, EXCEPT AS HEREINAFTER PROVIDED IN THIS CHARTER OR BY ORDINANCE, SHALL HOLD ANY OTHER ELECTED OR APPOINTED PUBLIC OFFICE – DEFINED AS ANY POSITION IN FEDERAL, STATE, COUNTY, MUNICIPAL, OR SCHOOL DISTRICT GOVERNMENT TO WHICH A PERSON IS CHOSEN BY ELECTION OR APPOINTED BY A PUBLIC OFFICIAL OR BODY, OR BE EMPLOYED BY THE MUNICIPALITY, EXCEPT THAT OF NOTARY PUBLIC OR MEMBER OF THE STATE MILITIA, OR RESERVE CORPS OF THE UNITED STATES, OR BE DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY INVOLVED IN THE DISBURSEMENT OF PUBLIC MONEYS OF NORTH ROYALTON, EXCEPT WHILE PERFORMING HIS OR HER DUTIES AS COUNCILPERSON.

By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer