Trumbull elections board rules for Waddell candidacy in March primary

Newton Falls Councilman Lyle Waddell takes notes during Board of Elections hearing.

The Trumbull County Board of Elections has ruled that Lyle Waddell, councilman (D-3^rd) and former Newton Falls mayor, can stay on the March 17 primary election ballot for the council seat he currently holds. Waddell had resigned from his mayoral office last October, two months before his second term would have expired and was appointed to the vacant ward seat by vote of council.

The city charter prohibits mayor or council members from serving more than two consecutive terms but does not prohibit them from running for council or mayor at a later time.

Three Newton Falls residents, including Tesa Spletzer, one of his primary opponents, had challenged the legitimacy of his candidacy by arguing that the mayor is a member of council. During a lengthy hearing at the board office Tuesday, Spletzer accused Waddell of “attempting to circumvent term limits specified in the city charter.” She cited a determination by a previous Newton Falls law director that the “mayor must be counted in total membership of council,” which she argued would make him ineligible under the charter’s term limits provision.

Trumbull County Board of Elections  

Edward Carr, who also filed a protest against Waddell, said he was a member of the 1993 Charter Review Commission that recommended term limits, which voters later approved. It was done to keep a mayor from “jumping to council” and “councilmen jumping wards to get around term limits,” Carr said.

Waddell, although agreeing that as mayor he was a member of council, argued that the charter is vague on term limits. He said they apply only when the holder of one council seat attempts to run for another ward seat.  “There is a difference between ‘member of council’ (the mayor) and ‘councilman,’” he said. “They’re not the same.

“(They) should have written language to say no one can run for anything after two terms,” Waddell said.

Newton Falls Councilman Lyle Waddell argues his case to the board of elections.  

The elections board agreed with Waddell. Following a 36 -minute closed session to deliberate, the board emerged with a unanimous vote in favor of Waddell’s candidacy on the ballot.  “There is a lack of clarity in the charter,” said the board’s Diana Marchese.

“I don’t know if I’m going to appeal…the court process is long and drawn out, and the primary is in March,” Spletzer told reporters after the board vote. “I know I can beat (Waddell) in the primaries.”

Elections Board President Mark Alberini recused himself from voting, although he participated in the hearing and the closed deliberation. Alberini said he “learned” during Tuesday’s testimony that his cousin Tarry Alberini, a member of Newton Falls Council, had made the motion to appoint Waddell to the Third Ward seat and decided to “err on the side of caution” by recusing himself.

The board president told reporters he “facilitated” the deliberations and made no voting recommendation to the rest of the board. “I have no conflict of interest,” he said.