MIFFLIN — An expulsion, an attempted firing, an invalid hiring, a repeal of an ordinance passed in December and an argument over the difference in the words “established” and “founded” — all were part of a nearly two-hour Mifflin Village Council meeting on Wednesday.
Joyce Amos, who council previously suspended for alleged name calling and misfeasance in January, was expelled indefinitely Wednesday in a 3-2 vote. Council members Pam Crain and Debra Cole dissented.
Cole said she voted no because “everyone makes mistakes.”
The expulsion follows council’s January decision to suspend her for 15 days.
In the original motion that came from Philene Craig, a newly elected councilwoman, Amos would be suspended for “the name calling of residents of this village on a Facebook page” and for “voting on an ordinance knowing that if you voted for it you would gain property.”
By state law, Amos was afforded a hearing date — which was scheduled to occur Feb. 10. That hearing did not happen because Amos said she needed additional time to prepare.
Craig is married to Fred Craig, who was also recently elected to council. Fred Craig was criminally charged with menacing by stalking on Dec. 15 after Amos filed a complaint against him in October. He was arrested and jailed Jan. 5.
A special prosecutor assigned to the case said in late January he does not believe the menacing by stalking charge fits the crime and Ashland Municipal Judge John Good said the facts of the case are hard to distinguish based off Amos’ original complaint.
Wednesday’s meeting afforded Amos the opportunity for a hearing, which happened — sort of.
Amos argued she was never given a copy of the charges Craig made against her, and therefore invalidated council’s suspension of her. When she was encouraged to present her side of the story, she delved into comments she and others made on a Facebook post about the difference in the words “established” and “founded,” in reference to a sign in the village welcoming visitors and informing them the date in which the Ashland County entity became a village.
The definition debate, however, happened after the alleged name calling that led to her suspension. The name calling, Cole said, was directed at Fred Craig and others in the village when she was an elected official.
“I think a lot of people are misunderstanding that (Amos) is a councilperson when she made all these remarks on Facebook,” she said. “(Fred Craig) has made remarks on Facebook — he was not a councilperson.”
After a brief eruption of back-and-forth discussion between Fred Craig and Mayor Vickie Shultz, Cole demanded the floor to finish her thought.
“There’s a difference in being angry and a difference in being cruel. What (Amos) was saying on Facebook was completely cruel,” Cole said.
Amos did say she regrets losing her temper on Facebook.
“To the point that I was hollering because I was lowering myself to their level, yes I do regret that,” Amos said, referencing her earlier accusations that Fred and Philene Craig have used vulgar language and name calling on Facebook.
After the vote, Amos got up from her seat and left the building without a word. She did not offer additional comment.
Hiring and firing
Fred Craig made a motion to hire Dusty Bright, a Mifflin resident, to work as a village maintenance worker at $12 an hour.
Council seemed agreeable; the motion passed unanimously. But then Fred Craig made another motion, this one to fire one of the two people already employed for maintenance work.
That motion, however, got the attention of Dave Hunter, the village’s newly hired solicitor. Hunter, at the moment these motions were made, had his head lowered into a copy of Ohio’s Revised Code looking intently into a statute regarding another matter.
When it became clear council had just hired a specific person for a position that previously did not exist, Hunter informed council that was not allowed.
“If there’s only one maintenance person already allotted for the village, council can allot for a second one, but council cannot specifically hire somebody to do that,” he said, adding the responsibility lies with the mayor or village administrator.
Bright’s hiring, therefore, was scratched and invalidated.
Since council seemed agreeable to hire him, officials said they would revisit the matter.
Repealing an ordinance
Council passed an ordinance in December that vacated certain alleys throughout the village, causing some controversy between Amos and Fred Craig, who at the time was a councilman-elect. He said the passing of the ordinance meant Amos, and other council members, would gain property.
His allegation served as the foundation for his wife’s misfeasance charge lodged against Amos, which led to her expulsion.
Fred Craig, on Thursday, moved to repeal that ordinance, resulting in a 4-1 vote. Crain dissented.
“I don’t want them to open back up,” she said.
The ordinance to repeal the December ordinance passed, meaning the alleys that were vacated in December, are now open.
Council will likely still pursue the vacation of alleys, but through a petition process similar to the cities of Ashland and Wooster.
Several other topics were discussed Thursday, one of them being Fred Craig’s desire for a key to the village’s buildings. Shultz refused to allow that.
“I’m not giving you a key,” she said. “If you need to get in (a building), then you can get ahold of (Tim Echelberger).”
Echelberger serves as the village administrator.
Council also passed a resolution that allows for the creation of a new, official village Facebook page. Councilwoman Cole agreed to serve as its administrator.
