Newton Falls mayor did not OK cancellation
Meeting held despite website message, lack of a quorum
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NEWTON FALLS -- A notice posted Wednesday on the village's website stating that that evening's council meeting was canceled due to expected storm conditions was not from Mayor Ken Kline.
Kline said, according to the village's charter, only he has the authority to cancel meetings, not council members.
An email sent after 4 p.m. by village Clerk Michael Acomb announced the cancellation. A post on the village social media site states: "3 members of council and the law director have determined for public safety that the council meeting for this evening HAS been canceled."
Kline and the other two council members showed up Wednesday evening, but because they lacked a quorum, no official meeting could be held.
Instead, Kline and council members Kevin Rufener and Julie Stimpert listened to comments from the more than 25 residents who arrived, mostly to lodge complaints against Village Manager Pam Priddy.
Council members John Baryak, Gideon Fetterolf and Tesa Spletzer did not attend.
Kline said since the meeting was not canceled by him, Baryak, Fetterolf and Spletzer were marked as unexcused absences.
Kline said Law Director Brad Brian said he didn't tell the others to cancel the meeting but to take the matter to Kline.
While it did rain after 7 p.m., Kline said there were no strong winds when the meeting began at 6 p.m.
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At meeting time, people stood outside the municipal building holding signs that stated "Fire Pam Priddy" and "We Deserve Better."
Priddy, the village manager, said at a previous meeting that she pulled the school resource officer from the Newton Falls schools on March 17.
The village police department was disbanded Dec. 31.
Stories differ on whether Priddy canceled the contract for the school resource officer or if the school had hired a replacement from the Trumbull County Sheriff's Office, making the officer from Newton Falls redundant.
"I never dreamed I would be contacted and told by the city manager that she had pulled the SRO," Kline said. "I told her she should have left the SRO there. I knew this would not go well."
Resident Julie Lemon, who has a child at Newton Falls schools, said she was concerned when she learned that for a time, there was no police officer in the schools.
Resident Jaime Kline said the safety of the students and staff were put in jeopardy with no officer in the schools.
"God forbid something would have happened because we did not have an SRO in the schools," she said.
The board of education since has hired a school resource officer for about $16,000 for the remainder of the school year from the Trumbull County Sheriff's Office.
Resident Brenda Persino said, "Taking away the SRO and the police department has divided this town in ways we have never seen ever. You have this group of people against this group of people."
Kline had asked for Priddy's resignation over the SRO being pulled from the schools.
In a previous statement released by Priddy through her legal counsel, Christina Williams of Cleveland, she said she "has been the victim of a vicious smear campaign initiated by the mayor's own outrageous and fundamentally false claims that Ms. Priddy 'removed' a school resource officer from the Newton Schools, and then 'falsified documents' and disseminated such documents at a meeting.
"As the messages made available at the school board meeting demonstrate, Ms. Priddy did not 'remove' the SRO. She was fully ready to have the SRO appear on March 17, 2023, for duty, but had been advised that the school made arrangements that very day for a member of the Trumbull County Sheriff's Department to be present at the school on March 17, 2023, to provide security."
The statement continues "that the allegations against Ms. Priddy, a truly dedicated public servant, are false and she was unjustly accused of wrongdoing to become the scapegoat for others' poor decisions."