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Councilman gives up seat to become prosecutor
(by Sue Reid - December 22, 2010)
Councilman gives up seat to become prosecutor
By SUE REID
Solon Ward 5 Councilman Lon D. Stolarsky resigned from his seat effective, Dec. 17, and is to be appointed as the city's new prosecutor.
Mayor Susan A. Drucker accepted the resignation and will appoint him to the prosecutor's position, effective Jan. 1.
Mr. Stolarsky, who has a year left of his term, did not attend Monday's City Council meeting.
Councilman Edward H. Kraus assumed Mr. Stolarsky's position as vice mayor, and council approved a motion for that appointment at the start of the meeting.
Mr. Stolarsky said in a letter to Mrs. Drucker and members of council that it is with "mixed emotions" that he resigns.
"I greatly enjoyed my work with the administration and my colleagues," Mr. Stolarsky said Monday. He has served on council for five years and four months. He said he intended to serve till the end of his term and beyond.
The mayor asked him to consider the prosecutor position following the resignation of Frank Gasper due to health issues. Mr. Gasper is resigning as prosecutor, effective Dec. 31.
"She was looking for somebody, and I appreciate the trust and confidence she has in me," Mr. Stolarsky said. "This all happened fairly quickly."
Mrs. Drucker told City Council Monday that, when she received the "unexpected resignation" of Mr. Gasper, she had to make the appointment for a new prosecutor. She obtained free legal advice from the Ohio Ethics Commission and was "taking cautious administrative steps, she said.
Mrs. Drucker said she asked the ethics commission whether she was allowed to offer the position to a sitting council member. She was told she needed to make a formal request in writing for the opinion, she said. "It took them longer then I anticipated."
Mrs. Drucker said she was told by the ethics commission that she could not discuss the matter with anyone else on council prior to a resignation. "I could not speak to anybody on council, because Lon was a sitting council member, and this would protect all the parties involved. I was told not to discuss it," she said.
"I got the opinion that he could be the prosecutor, and I approached Lon and asked him if I would be interested in the position."
Mrs. Drucker said she considers Mr. Stolarksy to be a thorough and competent individual. He is also the prosecutor for the Village of Woodmere. She said he received rave reviews from the administration there, as well as from both judges at the Bedford Municipal Court, Brian J. Melling and Harry Jacob. "They both gave stunning reviews about him as a professional and a prosecutor," she said. "He will serve Solon well."
During the public-comment portion of the meeting, resident Jacquelyn Calavitta said government should operate in an open manner, and the appointment appears to have been done under a veil of secrecy.
Mrs. Drucker said it was not a secret. "If me going to the ethics commission is considered wrong, that is absolutely ridiculous," she said. "I will follow the legal advice of the Ohio Ethics Commission. I want to make sure, in this day and age, that what I am doing is aboveboard, both ethically and legally."
She believes the city is "extremely open," Mrs. Drucker said. "We are transparent, and everything is done aboveboard. There is no decision I have made that I feel that I could not justify."
Ms. Calavitta also questioned how Mr. Stolarsky could vote along with Mrs. Drucker for every zoning variance associated with the recent McDonald's restaurant proposal and then be able to defend the City Council's rejection of it in court. "His votes on McDonald's are a blatant disrespect for the zoning laws," she said. "How can he carry this out with credibility?"
Mr. Stolarksy said Tuesday, "I voted the way I did on McDonald's after my careful consideration. I respect those that had different opinions, and, obviously, the majority of council did.
"I can see other people's reasoning and opinions, and I would hope that they would respect mine," he said. "It would highly unlikely that I would have direct involvement in that," he said of a possible appeal. "But as an attorney and city employee, I would vigorously and without any hesitation defend the city's position."
Ms. Calavitta said there are many other qualified candidates who could have been considered for the prosecutor's position.
"If it's an appointment by the mayor, it's an appointment by the mayor," Mrs. Drucker said. "I'm not going to sit there and pretend to go through a process and tell people I'm opening up for interviews, when I know who I am going to appoint. It's an act of disrespect of people and a waste of their time."
Mrs. Drucker said Mr. Stolarksy will be paid the same amount as Mr. Gasper, which is $30,000 annually. When she did not renew the contract for former Prosecutor and Assistant Law Director Blair Melling, she brought the salary into pace with where it should be, she said, saving the city $42,000.
A sole practitioner in Cleveland and Bedford Heights, Mr. Stolarsky does a lot of work through the Bedford Court system. A graduate of Cleveland Marshall College of Law, he said he also has filled in as a substitute for prosecutors in other communities such as Bedford Heights and Warrensville Heights.
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