NELSONVILLE, Ohio — Litigious, persistent and leaving: the resignation of Greg Smith marks the end of an era for Nelsonville City Council.
Citing health reasons, Smith resigned at Monday night’s regular council meeting, effective immediately. He has intermittently served — and been removed from four times — the body for more than two decades. Smith recently settled lawsuits against the city over those removals for $70,000, the Independent previously reported. The city is now taking letters of interest until Feb. 21 for the open seat.
Monday night’s agenda featured 10 items, three of which ended up indefinitely tabled.
Law director selection
Following a special meeting on Saturday, Feb. 10, the council moved again to hire a new city attorney, Mathew Voltolini of Circleville.
The city manager did not recommend Voltolini; rather the council found him as “special counsel” in place of the regular city attorney. In a 4-2 emergency vote (council member Justin Booth absent), council passed Ordinance 16-24 to hire Voltolini on a three-month probation period, with council members Gregg Clement and Cory Taylor voting no. Without the five-member vote required for an emergency, the ordinance goes into effect in 30 days.
The council also moved again to codify its removal of Jonathan Robe as city attorney. Ordinance 11-24 passed 4-1, with council members Smith, Council President Rita Nguyen, Jonathan Flowers and Nancy Sonick voting yes, Taylor voting no and Clement abstaining.
Council reprimands city manager
The council also heard the first reading of Resolution 2285, to reprimand Nelsonville City Manager Tom Cangemi “for dishonesty with Nelsonville City Council.”
The resolution alleges that Cangemi told council on Jan. 8 “that he would order city vehicles to remain parked and not allow vehicles to be taken home by employees until the Police & Fire Committee had developed an employee take-home policy.” However, the resolution states, “the city manager then permitted employees to take vehicles home.”
Additionally, the resolution “warns that any further dishonest act with council will likely result in his removal as city manager.”
The ordinance was tabled at a previous special meeting.
“I think this should stay on the table or just throw it in the trash,” Clement said Monday night. He called the warning a “slippery slope,” and described the resolution as “an attempt for character assassination.”
Council member Flowers said, “The language is a little too strong for me. … I think if we’re going to reprimand him, we need to reprimand him in writing, and put it in his file, and not threaten to fire him if it happens again.”
The body proceeded to vote 3-2 on the item, even though it was only a first reading. Clement, Sonick and Taylor voted no, Nguyen and Smith voted yes, and Flowers abstained.
Tabled items
The council again tabled Ordinance 10-24, which authorizes a settlement with Garry Hunter, the city’s former law director. This is the second time the council has tabled an ordinance to settle with Hunter.
The council briefly considered discussing the lawsuit in open session, forfeiting its executive session privileges; however, on the advice of special counsel Austin Richards, it entered into executive session.
Hunter filed suit in 2023 in the Athens County Court of Common Pleas against the city and the United States Department of Agriculture for unpaid wages.
The council also voted 4-2 (Clement and Taylor voting no) to table Ordinance 13-24, which allows the city manager to contract with the Athens County Board of Commissioners and Athens County 911 for emergency dispatching services for up to $85,000 annually for three years.
The city currently receives dispatching from Hocking College, which it has found unsatisfactory. However, it does not have a contract with Hocking and paid $75,000 for those services in advance, up into June of this year, Cangemi said at a committee meeting earlier this month. Flowers and Sonick said Monday night that they plan to visit both dispatching facilities before making a decision.
The council also voted 4-2 (Clement and Taylor voting no) to table emergency Ordinance 14-24 confirming Robe as the city attorney for December 2023. The ordinance specified that Robe’s term would begin Feb. 6, 2024, on a part-time basis, and end on Dec. 31, 2025. The ordinance will remain tabled until the council decides to bring it back.
Nelsonville City Council meets every other Monday of each month. Its next regular meeting will be Monday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. in Nelsonville City Council Chambers, 211 Lake Hope Drive. Meetings are also livestreamed on YouTube. Find more at cityofnelsonville.com.
