Seville Village Council considers no-confidence vote toward newly elected Richard Barbera for Board of Public Affairs

SEVILLE — Seville Village Council is discussing the possibilities of a no-confidence vote against attorney and previous Board of Public Affairs trustee Richard Barbera. The Board of Public Affairs covers the utilities for the village, including water, electric and sewer. The board is composed of three trustees who oversee the running of the utilities. Barbera ran for a seat on the Seville Board of Public Affairs in the November election and according to the unofficial election results, won with 63.75 percent, or 211 votes. Barbera ran against write-in candidate Nathan Stallard, who received 35.65 percent, or 118 votes. Seville Village Council discussed a no-confidence vote for when Barbera is sworn-in to the office during its meeting Monday evening. The vote would be a public declaration of a lack of confidence in Barbera's ability to utilize the position properly by the Seville Village Council. "This is not a legal thing, it's an ethical thing," Seville Mayor Carol Carter said. "I personally had a phone call with Richard before the election to let him know I had concerns and I asked him to take his name off the ballot and that I couldn't support him, and he refused to do so." The mayor and council's issues with Barbera began in July after an article published in The Gazette stating that Barbera was suspended from practicing law for 18 months due to his mishandling of a case during a probationary period. Barbera was hired to represent a woman in a pending child-support case in 2017. The court moved the hearing earlier, but Barbera waited almost six weeks to file notice of his court appearance and never checked his docket. This resulted in neither Barbera, nor the woman he represented, being available for the hearing date, causing the woman to spend six hours in jail, according to court documents. He additionally was continuously difficult for the woman to reach, even being absent during a court date, forcing the woman to represent herself, the court documents said. When the woman went to court with a new attorney, she was then arrested and served a 10-day jail sentence. "We as an administration feel that if he can't handle and make better decisions in his personal life for his clients, are you comfortable with him making decisions for our residents? I'm not," Carter said. Barbera said he was not informed about this discussion from the board. "I'm somewhat perplexed about this action. I would think that a person in a political holder's office would respect the will of the constituents," Barbera responded. "However, I plan to act diligently for the best interests of the constituents and will do my very best in my position, as I did for the seven and a half years that I previously served." Soon after the article came out regarding Barbera's suspension, he then stepped down from his position as trustee for the Seville Board of Public Affairs, according to Carter. While the mayor cannot appoint someone to fill that position, she was able to recruit candidates for the Village Council to look at. "When he stepped down I found a young man, Nathan Stallard, who I've been after before to get some young blood in our administration, and council unanimously voted him in," Carter said. Barbera remained on the ballot for the November election. Stallard was unable to get his name added to the ballot in time for the November election, so he ran as a write-in candidate. Stallard is the son of Council member Rick Stallard. Nathan Stallard will continue to fill Babera's unexpired term on the Board of Public Affairs until the end of the year. "I asked (Barbera) on the phone, take your name off the ballot, you shouldn't be running," Carter said. With Barbera elected, Carter said that the hope is that he ends up stepping down after the no-confidence vote. The discussion regarding moving forward with the no-confidence vote will occur during the Dec. 6 meeting of the Government Committee. The committee will meet with an attorney and go in-depth about how to move forward on public record. The meeting will follow the Board of Public Affairs meeting at 6:45 p.m. in the administration building, 120 Royal Crest Drive in Seville. "It just saddens me that our administration has to put the time and effort into something like this when all he would have to do is just step down, like I asked him to do when he had time to do it," Carter said. Contact reporter Caleb Hurley at (330) 721-4049 or churley@medina-gazette.com. Contact reporter Sara Crawford at (330) 721-4063 or scrawford@medina-gazette.com.