Mayor suspends Youngstown law director | News, Sports, Jobs - Youngstown Vindicator
YOUNGSTOWN — Law Director Jeff Limbian, who got into a dispute with the city clerk over the timing of providing council legislation and acknowledged other communication issues, has been suspended for two weeks without pay by Mayor Jamael Tito Brown.
Limbian, who also has served as city prosecutor, wrote in a Thursday letter to Brown, city council members and city clerk Valencia Marrow that he would no longer serve in that position “and concentrate (on) my duties as law director.”
Limbian’s annual salary is $83,948 so a two-week suspension, which started Thursday, will result in a $3,228 loss of pay.
In that letter, provided Friday, Limbian wrote: “It has been clear for some time that communications in and out of the law department have been less than what is required to ensure smooth and efficient operations of the department. The situation has resulted in some unwarranted delays.”
He added, “Such communication issues within my control culminated in an unfortunate expression of anger by me to Valencia Marrow, clerk of city council, and she did not deserve it. For that Valencia, I am truly sorry.”
Council’s meeting this past Wednesday and a council finance committee meeting, scheduled for two days prior, were canceled last week by Marrow and council members when the law department didn’t provide copies of the legislation to her office by a requested deadline.
Marrow wrote in an email last week that the law department had said the legislation would be to her office no later than noon Nov. 10 as the next day was a holiday, Veterans Day, and she wasn’t working Nov. 12.
“It has been a constant struggle to get legislation in a timely manner in order for council to have time to read and digest their legislation,” Marrow wrote.
Limbian said of the email: “This is just childish.”
This past Monday, Limbian sent a letter to Marrow stating her “pique of anger and displacing blame is unfortunate.”
He pointed out that council rules state the legislation deadline is noon the Friday before a council meeting.
“Your rationale for canceling the meeting is misguided, and your attendant rhetoric is misplaced,” Limbian wrote in the Monday letter to Marrow.
MAYOR’S RESPONSE
Brown sent a Thursday memo to city staff stating that “effective immediately” any “outstanding legal items from your departments that are currently in process with attorney Limbian” should be forwarded to Lou D’Apolito or Daniel Dascenzo, assistant law directors, until Dec. 2.
When asked Thursday to comment on the memo, Brown dismissed it as “personal issues. He’s taking a couple of weeks off.” Brown said Limbian would return in two weeks, and there was nothing more to it.
But Limbian’s letter tells a different story.
Limbian wrote: “There, of course, must be an acceptance of responsibility for such actions. I acknowledge the need for consequences and accept your directive, mayor, of a two-week suspension without pay and that I will no longer serve as city prosecutor and concentrate (on) my duties as law director.”
There is no record of a letter sent by Brown to Limbian about the suspension, according to the law department. It’s presumed to have been done verbally.
In his letter, Limbian apologized to Brown, city council and the administration “for putting you all in such a difficult position. Measures have been initiated to ensure that such difficulties do not occur in the future.”
There has been turnover in the law department in the past couple of years, particularly the last few months. Limbian had previously said the low salaries offered to those working in the law department contributed to that problem.
In an effort to bring stability to the office, Limbian recently hired D’Apolito, a former Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge, and Dascenzo, a former court magistrate who used to work for the law department.
In his letter, Limbian wrote: “I can assure you that the law department will be well staffed and well positioned to serve the needs of the mayor, the city council, the clerk of courts and all the departments of the administration.”
Limbian is a longtime friend of Brown and actively campaigned for him as early as his unsuccessful 2013 mayoral bid.
After winning the 2017 mayor’s race, Brown announced he was hiring Limbian as law director.
But there’s been tension between Limbian and members of city council.
During council meetings, there’s been verbal sparring between Limbian and members with some wanting to hire their own attorney rather than use the law director.
Also, after a November 2020 charter amendment passed that allowed the finance director and law director to have their salaries determined by city council, Brown sought to increase those wages by 15 percent each.
There was strong resistance from council to a 15 percent raise for Limbian so Brown lowered his request to 3 percent. At a Feb. 1 council finance committee meeting, it became obvious the votes for that raise weren’t there, and Brown withdrew the legislation from the Feb. 3 council meeting agenda.
source: https://www.vindy.com/news/local-news/2021/11/mayor-suspends-youngstown-law-director/
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