BELLVILLE – It was a tumultuous year for the village of Bellville.
Everything came to a head at a special council meeting called on a Sunday in April in which members voted to dismiss Administrator Larry Weirich after outside legal counsel ruled Weirich’s romantic relationship with Mayor Teri Brenkus was a “clear conflict of interest.”
The story was No. 9 on the News Journal’s top 10 stories of 2024.
More than 50 people crowded into a stuffy village hall for the special meeting, called after council received a legal opinion from the Cleveland law firm Zashin & Rich.
Attorney Drew Piersall issued the legal opinion.
“It is the undersigned counsel’s opinion that there is a clear conflict of interest present in this situation as there is no dispute that Mayor Brenkus enjoys supervisory authority over Administrator Weirich,” Piersall wrote. “The level of supervisory authority exercised is not the appropriate focus; the focus is on whether the authority exists, which it certainly does.
“Mayor Brenkus and Administrator Weirich should have notified Village Council of a potential relationship prior to entering into a romantic relationship so that any potential conflict of interest/appearance of impropriety could have been addressed at that time.”
Council voted 6-0 in March to ask Brenkus to resign while also putting Weirich on paid administrative leave. Brenkus refused to resign and has retained legal counsel.
Brenkus did not attend the April meeting. A message was left with the mayor’s office.
Weirich did attend the meeting and met in executive session with council for about 45 minutes before members voted 5-0 to remove him. Council President Justin Enix did not vote because he was the acting mayor in Brenkus’ absence.
Weirich, who had been village administrator since 2015, oversaw the street, water, sewer and cemetery departments.
Council’s options regarding Weirich were to restructure, discipline or dismiss.
Enix allowed for public comment, giving residents two minutes each. About 15 spoke, and they were fairly evenly split on what should happen.
When the residents had their say, Enix turned to Weirich and asked him if he wanted to comment.
“Nope, pretty much everything’s been said,” he replied.
Weirich had spoken to attorney Piersall.
“According to my interview with Administrator Weirich, he began a romantic relationship with Mayor Brenkus after he separated from his wife in July 2023,” the attorney wrote.
“It is not in dispute that Administrator Weirich has a dual reporting structure: He reports to both Village Council and Mayor Brenkus. Administrator Weirich contends that Mayor Brenkus does not provide much oversight over him, and her supervision is generally limited to signing off on his time-off sheets.”
Under Ohio law, a village administrator can be removed without cause by the mayor with the consent of a majority of council, or he may be removed without cause by the affirmative vote of three-fourths of council, without consent of the mayor.
Piersall noted the village’s nepotism policy does not include dating or a romantic relationship.
“Notwithstanding, the ordinance expresses a policy for avoiding any appearance of impropriety,” he wrote. “The undersigned counsel is of the opinion that the relationship between the mayor and village administrator does not violate the ‘letter’ of the nepotism policy, but is incompatible with its spirit.”
Enix and several other council members spoke to reporters, noting they removed Weirich without cause. To do so with cause would have required the mayor to bring the charges.
The council president said business is back to normal in Bellville.
“Nothing else really happened after that,” he said of the April meeting. Council appointed Michael Morton to replace Weirich.
In August, Weirich was appointed to be road superintendent at Madison Township.
mcaudill@gannett.com
419-521-7219
X: @MarkCau32059251
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