A Willoughby Hills city councilwoman who was removed from her post along with five other colleagues Wednesday is now accusing the mayor who fired her of committing a felony through his actions, while refusing to officially step aside from her position.
District 1 Councilwoman Laura Pizmoht, who claims Mayor Robert M. Weger has "no legal authority" to remove her, wrote to the mayor Thursday and accused him of felony intimidation. She says Weger committed a crime when he threatened to remove her and the five other councilors in a memo written back on Aug. 30. Weger apparently wrote:
"If Council decides to exercise their right to present these Charter amendments for ballot consideration, I may have no option but to exercise my current right to plan for this removal. Incidentally, there is no due process provided to Council members either."
In addition, Pizmoht writes Weger's decision to fire the six council members was itself criminal, claiming he committed retaliation (another felony) when he followed through on his threat. Weger wrote Wednesday he was within his rights to remove the six based on the city charter, charging them all with "gross misconduct" based on the following actions:
- Illegally appointing an acting mayor, acting law director, and outside legal counsel.
- Holding illegal executive sessions.
- Forcing the Mayor's Court to shut down, which he says cost the City $80,000 dollars in revenue a month.
- Keeping him from communicating with residents.
However, Pizmoht strongly denied she and her colleagues had done anything illegal, and accused the mayor of simply playing politics because he didn't get his way:
"In that letter [sent Wednesday], you also falsely claim these Council Members committed gross misconduct because they did things like vote for ordinances you didn't like. Again, it is the felony of intimidation to threaten or intimidate public officials with the intent of preventing them from doing their job."
The tension between the mayor's office and the Willoughby Hills City Council has been brewing for months, and Weger has stated many of the ordinances he "didn't like" were "illegal and unenforceable," with some even being struck down in court. The mayor justified the removal of the six through section 9.31 of the city charter, which states:
"The Mayor shall remove immediately any such officer or employee for violation of any of the requirements stated in Section 9.2, for gross misconduct, malfeasance or non-feasance in office, or upon conviction while in office of a felony or other crime involving moral turpitude."
Pizmoht claims this section does not apply to the city council and that only the council itself "can judge its own members." She cited the very next section in the charter, 9.32:
"The Council shall remove immediately any councilman and any other officer to whom it may appoint a successor who fails to comply with the residential qualifications stated in the section regarding his election or appointment.
"Any councilman, officer or employee to whom the Council may appoint a successor may be removed by the Council at any time, subject to the provisions of Section 9.4 where applicable.
"The Council shall remove immediately any such councilman, officer or employee for violation of the requirements of Section 9.2, for gross misconduct, malfeasance or non-feasance in office, or upon conviction while in office of a felony or other crime involving moral turpitude."
In addition to the felony accusations, Pizmoht also accused Weger of multiple other charges such as obstructing official business, dereliction of duty, and obstructing justice. She told WKYC on Wednesday she and the other five removed members are considering a lawsuit, and that all plan to hold the next city council meeting on schedule "in the parking lot, if we have to."
Weger has said he and the only councilman who kept his job, District 3's Christopher Hallum, will work to appoint four new councilors before that next meeting, but Pizmoht says this, too, is illegal as one councilman alone cannot act for the entire body. She further attacked the mayor in a scathing critique of his motives:
"What you've attempted to do is so fundamentally wrong that is should be unnecessary to inscribe it in our Charter. There is no American mayor, governor or president who has this power and certainly none has ever displayed such contempt for the separation of powers. Think about it: if a Mayor or executive could remove even one legislator who disagreed with him, that would make that mayor a king or a dictator and as our forefathers fought a bloody war over their contempt for such concentrated power, surely the Willoughby Hills City Charter did not intend for the Mayor of Willoughby Hills to be a tyrant."