Two councilmembers on East Cleveland City Council have filed a lawsuit against the council president and the clerk of council.
Councilmembers Korean Stevenson and Pat Blochowiak are alleging that Council President Nathaniel Martin and clerk of council Tracy Udrija-Peters have been illegally acting without the support of council.
The main issue is filling the ward three seat currently vacant due to the recall of former Councilmembers Ernest Smith, Blochowiak said. She alleges Martin, on his own, set a deadline to receive résumés from candidates interested in filling the seat and took action before the recall vote was certified.
“The deadline for submitting letters of interest and résumés that Nate had set on his own without discussing it with the rest of council had already passed," Blochowiak said.
She and Stevenson are asking the court to vacate this process, so they can start over legally.
“I would consider those people to have applied," Blochowiak said. "I would not consider that deadline to be valid, so we might get other people who apply.”
Since the original deadline passed, Martin extended it, Blochowiak said.
"But that didn't address the issue we had," Blochowiak said. "This is supposed to be a council decision, and it's not supposed to be Nate Martin's decision."
Martin and Udrija-Peters have also withheld information about councilmember candidates, Blochowiak said. Addresses of several candidates were redacted, and when asked why, Blochowiak said she was told giving out candidate's addresses would violate Ohio's Sunshine Law. However, Blochowiak said there's exceptions to the law, including when a person's job is contingent on where they live, like in the case of being a councilmember.
The suit further alleges Martin and Udrija-Peters violated the Ohio Revised Code, East Cleveland's charter, Ohio's Sunshine Laws and Robert's Rules of Order. Martin has also scheduled special council meetings without polling councilmembers for availability as is customary, Blochowiak said. He can call meetings, but it's polite and customary for him to poll for availability first, Blochowiak said. The suit also states that council mail is not delivered to councilmembers as it should be by law. It cites an example in which a letter from former Police Chief Scott Gardner sent a letter to councilmembers dated Nov. 2 that was postmarked Nov. 3 and delivered Nov. 8 but not received by councilmembers until Nov. 29.
Blochowiak worries the court will not rule until after the seat is filled, but she and Stevenson filed for an expedited decision.
East Cleveland’s law director said there’s no comment on pending litigation.
