Geauga County Probate Court Judge Tim Grendell threatened to arrest Geauga County Auditor Frank Gliha Oct. 17 for refusing to pay for a series of newspaper ads.
Grendell had ordered the ads — titled “Observations From the Bench of Judge Tim Grendell” — placed in six local newspapers in September as a “community service” to redress recent attacks directed toward the Geauga Park District Commissioners and him.
But instead of processing the court’s orders and paying the bills, totalling $4,275, Gliha packaged them up and sent them to the Geauga County Commissioners for approval — something Grendell said violated the law.
When Grendell learned the bills weren’t paid from the court’s discretionary funds, which he contends are not “taxpayer general revenue funds dollars,” he became incensed.
“Under Ohio law, these court ordered payments are not subject to review and approval by the county commissioners,” Grendell said in an Oct. 16 administrative order directing Gliha to process the payments immediately or face sanctions.
“The court has been informed that the county auditor has forwarded these court ordered payments to the county commissioners for review and approval,” the judge said. “Such action by the county auditor is contrary to Ohio law and a violation of this court’s statutory authority and separate judicial powers under the Ohio Constitution.”
On Thursday, Grendell told the Geauga County Maple Leaf each one of his orders spelled out what the funds were for, based on the court’s discretionary power.
“It was crystal clear and for him to send those to the commissioners is contrary to the law,” Grendell said. “I didn’t want to send that order out. I would have preferred that he just followed the law in the first place.”
The judge claimed Gliha has violated the separation of powers doctrine for several years.
“He treats the courts like they are a department of the executive branch of the county and they are not,” Grendell said. “Frank Gliha has repeatedly been told by me and by (Geauga County) Prosecutor (Jim) Flaiz … a court’s use of discretionary funds is not subject to review or approval by the county commissioners.”
In his Oct. 16 order, Grendell ordered Gliha to retrieve from the commissioners office the court’s orders directing the invoices be paid from the court’s Special Projects Fund and to process the payments immediately.
“If this action is not taken by 3 p.m. on Friday, October 17, 2014, the court will conduct a show cause hearing at 4 p.m. … to address the county auditor’s noncompliance and interference with the orders of the court and violation of Ohio law,” the judge said in his order.
A summons was included with the Oct. 16 order with the sentence, “You are notified that a failure to appear may result in the issuance of a warrant of arrest.”
Gliha said last Wednesday he felt there were issues regarding the full-page ads Grendell placed in the newspapers.
Following protocol, when the invoices were received in the auditor’s office between Sept. 17 and Sept. 19, he said he sent them to the county commissioners for approval.
“But the judge sent me a court order that I have to pay it. If not, I had to appear in his courtroom at 4 p.m. the next day,” Gliha said, adding had he not complied, Grendell could have thrown him “in the slammer.”
Various scenarios passed through his mind, however, before making the decision to pay for the ads.
“I contemplated a lot of things … (and) consulted with other auditors,” Gliha said. “At the end of the day, I decided it was the better part of valor to just pay it.”
The auditor said he didn’t talk to the judge about the matter. The judgment entry took the onus off his office.
“I had to pay it out of whatever fund he ordered me to pay it out of,” Gliha said. “He just wanted it paid and he wanted it paid right away.”
The Geauga County Auditor’s Office is audited by the state every year, Gliha said. He expects state auditors to come to Geauga in January 2015. If there is anything irregular, the auditors may be interested.
“I’m sure the state auditors will take a look, if someone asks them to,” he said
Meanwhile, Gliha anticipates fielding questions from county residents about why the judge spent money from one fund to pay for invoices from a separate department.
“I would think there’s an outrage out there,” he said.
Flaiz said he cannot stop anyone from making representations about what he has said, but added he cannot talk about what he discussed with both officials because those discussions are privileged.
In his Oct. 1 order directing the ads be published in local newspapers, Grendell said he has “various statutorily mandated responsibilities” with respect to the county park district.
“Spurious, false and misleading materials have been published in various weekly newspapers in Geauga County containing numerous false, misleading or inaccurate statements concerning the probate court’s and the park district board’s procedures and compliance with Ohio law,” Grendell said in his order.
These alleged false and inaccurate writings have “misled and defrauded” the citizenry and “impugned the integrity and actions” of the probate court and its judge, he said.
“In response to this deliberate effort by some to mislead and defraud the citizens of Geauga County, this court has determined that publication of the true facts is necessary,” he wrote, enumerating three reasons for his decision:
1. For the protection and benefit of the welfare of all Geauga County citizens.
2. To maintain the operation of the county parks in accordance with Ohio law.
3. To protect and maintain the integrity of the Geauga County Probate Court.
Critics of Grendell’s decision, including members of Protect Geauga Parks, a grassroots group that wants to restore the park district’s commitment to conservation, said the ads are misleading and amount to nothing more than political propaganda.
“The truth is that this piece is full of Grendell’s politically formulated opinions on his views for the future of the park system, dubious and convoluted statistics, and attacks on those who do not share his opinions such as me,” Newbury Township resident Chris Yaecker said in a recent letter to the editor.
The same newspaper ad was re-printed in a recent park district “Voices of Nature” publication, which is taxpayer funded and mailed to every household in Geauga County, Yaecker said.