Brown Calls Suit to Remove Him ‘Frivolous’
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Mayor Jamael Tito Brown called a lawsuit filed seeking to remove him from the office “frivolous” and “unwarranted.”
On Tuesday, Youngstown City School District Board of Education member Dario Hunter filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court of Ohio alleging that because Brown didn’t obtain a faithful performance bond by Jan. 1, 2017, he “is considered by law to have refused office and a vacancy has resulted in the office of mayor.”
The suit against Mahoning County Democratic Party and its chairman, David Betras, seeks to vacate the mayorship.
“This lawsuit that he’s filed is frivolous. It’s unwarranted. It has no merits. He has no basis on his filing,” the mayor said.
Brown obtained his bond Feb. 21, 2017, backdated to the first of the month, according to a statement from Hunter, citing documents obtained from the city via public records request.
“The insurance company never realized it needed to be retroactive and we don’t believe it needed to be retroactive,” Brown said Tuesday afternoon. “Looking at previous bonds from other mayors, in January it was ‘Hey, you need to get a bond and start the process.’ ”
“We think we’re more than in compliance with any law. We think we’re within in the law and anything that’s happened in the past,” he added.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
