County Common Pleas Judge Dave Tobin ruled this week that the village is not liable in Ed Wilson's slander lawsuit against Wellsville and Mayor Joe Surace. However Surace is still in play in the suit.
Tobin stated that the lawsuit hinges on whether Surace's comment to Channel 9 were in fact true at the time he made the statement. You will recall that Surace commented that Wilson was being investigated for failing to go to the Yost murder scene. This was reported to be part of the WPD investigation by the Cleveland law firm. According to the newspaper accounts the issue is not whether Wilson was ordered to the murder scene but whether he was being investigated for it at the time of the statement. Evidently that point was not made clear in the documents the good judge reviewed. Tobin said the village isn't liable due to state law against such suits.
Now the next move is up to the Mayor's lawyers. There was no indication that the judge set a trial date in either of the local newspaper's account of the proceedings. From what I read I'm guessing Judge Tobin is giving the Surace legal team time to amend their original filing and clarify this point. I hope so and I hope those folks can satisfy Tobin that Wilson's failure to go to the crime scene that night was part of the WPD investigation. If they can do that then Wilson doesn't have a case and it can be thrown out according to what was reported that Tobin said.
As I stated before I don't think this suit has merit and it is costing us Wellsville taxpayers money. Matt Stewart of ORL questioned who will foot the bill for the legal fees since the village is immune. Who do you think? Didn't council vote to allow the Mayor engage the law firm.
ole nib
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I've asked several times here and on ORL and never got an answer: who authorized the law firm to rewrite the employee policy manual?
Did Council vote for that? Where is the money coming from for it? How much is it going to cost? Lawyers don't work cheap; I would think something like that could be done much cheaper by a company that does such work instead of a law firm.
I spoke to two councilmen and both told me that council never voted to hire the Cleveland law firm for the manual and they never voted on having the manual looked at. According to Surace, he can spend money if it is an emergency, so maybe that is how he did it. If the law firm charges $200 an hour and has had the manual for over a month it will cost the taxpayers a pretty penny.
I was at council the night the voted to hire the outside council. Why dont they stand by their votes. What a bunch of idiots. One reason they gave for hiring outside council was the Mayor could not be objective. They make me sick. You vote them in, and then they are ashamed of the way they vote. God help us.
Somehow, I think people were able to ask questions about who is paying the bill etc., without the help of Matt Stewart. He has done more to hurt people and the reputation of this village than anyone I can think of. Do we have to inject him here again. We dont need his Wellsville Zone either. I think it would be easy enough to just ask the Mayor, but I feel everyone knows that the taxpayer is footing the bill, no one else. On one hand I dont like it, on the other, if it would mean a big change in the PD I guess it would be tax money well spent for a change. How often do you feel your tax money is worth it? Just about never. If they cleaned up the PD I guess it would be worth the bill. Like, for example, if you went to the PD and could actually go inside and speak to an officer. That would be great.
YEA SPEAK TO AN OFFICER WITHOUT THE COCKINESS AND ATTITUDE THEY GIVE YU DOWN THERE ,,,
Opinion, you always seem to just miss the point.
How was my question in anyway connected to Matt Stewart, other than having asked on ORL?
The point is not that it "might" get something done in the police department.
The point is, if council didn't VOTE for the expenditure, is it LEGAL???
I think council voted to hire outside council to investigate the Eddie Wilson situation but did it actually vote to let the same law firm update the police manual?
That's a very hefty price tag for such work. And, no matter how fancy a policy they come up with, it won't be worth the paper it's written on unless someone (read: the mayor and chief) ENFORCES IT.
The problem with Wellsville is ALWAYS how things get "approved" yet no one ever votes for it.
As for Matt ruining reputations, I've found that no one can ruin another person's reputation. they pretty much do that on their own.
Matt only put questions and comments out there for the people to consider. It was up to the voters and residents to decide what was pertinent, true and accurate.
The voters get what they deserve in most cases.
And I am not a Matt Stewart fan, believe me.
Oh, and P.S.: I don't think the mayor can authorize expenditure of funds, even in an emergency, without council approval in most cases.
and if he can, I would assume he would then have to retroactively ask for council approval.
fess up, if you were at that meeting, then tell us why council hired the attorneys. I seen nothing in the papers where council hired attorneys to prepare employee manuals. In fact, they hired the attorneys to investigate Ed Wilson and problems in the pd.
Can someone tell me why you can't walk into the police dept. I don't think I have ever heard of such a thing. You go to the PD, and the door is locked. What is up with that. You have to go to the FD to talk to a policeman.
The council voted to hire outside council and the Mayor was to abide by their reccomendations.
It is an interesting question about whether or not the Mayor can approve expenditures without council approval. I guess one would need to go to a council meeting and ask how that works. No one seems to really know. They probably don't either. So wondering, I see all your points, I just remember reading in the paper the Mayor was to abide by the decisions that the outside council made. Whether that meant spend money on updating manuals or not, only council and the Mayor can answer I guess. It could be interpreted either way. I am not saying I know, that was the way I read it. I guess as far as Matt goes, I had so much of a gut full of him during election time, I just have no room at all.
The only reason council voted to hire an outside law firm, was because the no balls Mayor, would not do his job and put an end to all this Ed Wilson stuff. He let it go for years, so council had to hire this firm to end it, one way or the other. Concerning the manual, council did not, I said did not, vote to have them prepared at 200.00 an hour. They never voted at all, on the manuals. That was all Surace's crap. This is the truth on both issues, take it to the bank.
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