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NEWTON FALLS -- After several interviews and meetings with candidates, village council has hired Corey Snow as its new full-time village clerk/clerk of council.
Snow was hired at a salary of $78,332, with increases every three months until he reaches a salary of $87,464 after 12 months. The position does not allow for any overtime pay for the clerk.
Snow will handle day-to-day operations at the municipal building, where he will work with new Village Manager Jeremy Shaffer, while also serving as clerk for council's two regular monthly meetings.
Kathy King, a former village clerk who has been serving as clerk of council while officials looked for a new clerk, will work with Snow to get him familiarized with the new position.
Snow, of Ashtabula, most recently served as assistant park manager at Geneva-on-the Lake. First Ward Councilman Brian Kropp said with the hiring of Snow, the village is moving toward having a full-time person in place at the municipal building.
In other business, Second Ward Councilman Brain Axiotis said he is concerned that Third Ward Councilman Bob Burke has missed several council meetings in the past few months and contacted King to let her know he would be at the Sept. 2 meeting late, but did not arrive by the time the more than 90-minute meeting ended.
Axiotis said he wants to start the process to have Burke removed from council.
At previous meetings, Burke has been excused because of work or was marked as absent. Minutes show he has missed four recent meetings, including a special meeting for interviews for the clerk position.
Axiotis said he does not feel the Third Ward is being represented with Burke not in attendance. He said the charter does allow for the process of removing a council member because of many absences.
Law Director Gary Van Brocklin said he will review the charter and get back to council for the Sept. 16 meeting on what are the needed steps to remove a council member.
Messages were left with Burke for comment on why he has missed several meetings.
LAWSUIT SETTLED
Council also settled a lawsuit brought by former Fiscal Officer Anna Musson, who filed a lawsuit four years ago when she was fired from the administration by a former council.
Van Brocklin would not disclose the amount of the settlement, but said it is the last lawsuit from that time when former staff were removed by council.
In 2021, village council voted to terminate Musson as finance director. Officials then said the decision was due to irreconcilable differences and the village finances not being in the best shape because of financial decisions that were made.
Former Mayor Ken Kline said there was a lot of overspending.
Kropp and Axiotis said they were not pleased that the current council has to address the actions of a past council and administration, but were glad this was the last lawsuit to be addressed and settled.
Kropp said the time and money spent by the village to have to deal with lawsuits as a result of the actions of past administrations concerns him. Axiotis said the costs to battle such cases and pay out settlements could have been used elsewhere to benefit the roads or the police department.
TRICK OR TREAT
Council also tabled a motion to set trick or treat from 5 to 7 p.m. Oct. 31 every year. Kropp, who sponsored the motion, said he has received calls from residents who want trick or treat on Halloween.
He said there needs to be a set time and date for the holiday. Van Brocklin said municipalities and communities set the time of Halloween in order to coordinate with the police department being able to provide patrol and protection for the trick or treaters.
Councilwoman-at-Large Julie Stimpert said she was concerned that the Newton Falls Kiwanis always have their annual cake walk event before trick or treat and they should be contacted about what day and time they are planning the event this year. She said the cake walk is a tradition in the village.
Van Brockin said what organizations and groups do to schedule events for Halloween is separate from a village scheduling trick or treat.
Kropp said he will get in contact with the Kiwanis of what the village is considering for trick or treat hours and when the Kiwanis are considering planning their event.
The Newton Falls Kiwanis will mark the 100th year for the cake walk on Halloween.
BRIDGES
Also, Shaffer said inspections will be done on the CSX railroad bridge in the community to look for rust, holes, defects and stress.
He said the village has been in contact with Congressman David Joyce's office on the bridge inspection process since there is concern that one of the bridges is not in the best condition.
Axiotis said CSX does inspections of the bridges annually.