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Carlisle council case filed with Ohio Supreme Court

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By Ed Richter, Staff Writer Updated 9:55 PM Thursday, August 25, 2011

COLUMBUS — The Ohio Supreme Court may decide whether three votes constitute a majority to appoint a person to Carlisle Village Council.

Terry Johnson, who was appointed by Mayor Tim Humphries on July 1 to succeed former councilman Chad S. Johnson, filed a complaint with the state Supreme Court on Thursday against Councilman Scott Richardson.

The state Supreme Court has original jurisdiction in matters concerning municipal charters. A court official said the matter could take up to a year to resolve if the court decides hear the case and schedule arguments.

In late June, Richardson received the most votes in a three-way field for appointment to the council seat to complete Chad Johnson’s term. The six remaining council members split their votes 3-2-1.

Council members Randy Winkler and Jennifer Long requested a legal opinion from Law Director David Chicarelli.

Carlisle’s charter requires a majority vote to appoint a council member, but Chicarelli’s opinion said the section was vague in such a situation.

In a 3-2-1 split vote, Chicarelli said he believed “it could be construed as a majority vote since it is the greater number, and the candidate receiving three votes should be appointed to council.”

At the June 30 council meeting, Chicarelli swore in Richardson as a council member when Humphries and Deputy Mayor Scott Borschert refused to do so.

Humphries, Borschert, and Councilman Bryan Green also have refused to recognize Richardson as the legitimate appointment and say that Chicarelli swore in Richardson without authority.

On July 1, Humphries exercised his authority that enables the mayor to fill a council vacancy and appointed Terry Johnson.

Since then, Humphries has requested Richardson to stand down from sitting on the council dais and has not acknowledged his votes.

“There is very clear case law because the charter required a ‘majority’ to seat a council member in a 30-day period,” said Jon Paul Rion, a Dayton attorney representing Terry Johnson. “That case law says that a majority is more than half of a total number.”

Rion said the court ruled in 1939 in a case with similar facts involving a 3-2-1 vote concerning a standing rule of Ironton City Council. “The Supreme Court ruled that wasn’t a majority,” Rion said. “The court held that four was a majority.”

Rion said there was another case in Berea, a Cleveland suburb in 1975, in which the court held that a majority of six is any number more than three.

In that case, the six council members had to appoint a replacement but only five members were at the meeting, Rion said.

He said the vote was a 3-2 split and the court found that neither side had a majority.

“It was another interpretation and nothing was found to the contrary,” Rion said.

Humphries said, “It has been my firm belief from the moment the opinion was rendered by the law director, David Chicarelli, that this day would have to come.

“It is now in the hands of the Ohio State Supreme Court to affirm what the founders of our charter intended,” Humphries said.

Chicarelli said he had not seen the court motion and did not know anything about it.”

“It’s not surprising,” he said.

Richardson could not be reached for comment late Thursday afternoon.

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4504 or erichter@coxohio.com.

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