By Mansfield Frazier
According to published reports, it seems as if former Woodmere mayor Yolanda Broadie did everything she could to bankrupt the village when she held office a few years ago, and now it appears as if she’s trying to finish the job in spite of the fact she no longer is in power.
Just to refresh memories, the Village of Woodmere is a tiny enclave of around 850 residents that’s situated just east of I-271 and runs along Chagrin Boulevard. Due to the many businesses located in the village, including the upscale Eaton shopping district, it should have a fairly stable tax base… but that’s not the case. Years of infighting and mismanagement have left the village financially strapped.
Certainly not the first community in America where political bickering has almost become a contact sport, some of the folks in Woodmere — especially some of the residents who have lived in the village the longest — are used to having things go their way, and when they don’t these folks resort to all sorts of mischief, backbiting and double dealing to maintain control.
Their obvious goal is to make the current mayor, Charles Smith (a former major league baseball pitcher who won office in a four-person race in 2009), look as bad as possible in order for the former mayor or one of her supporters to once again take control of City Hall. But Smith is fighting to prevent the village from moving backwards. One newer resident, who didn’t care to speak for attribution, said, “Broadie made a mess of things when she ran the city, and even though she was term-limited out she still thinks she should be making the decisions.”
The “mess” Mayor Smith is referring to is the lawsuits that stemmed from the 2004 firing of two police officers, Tim Ellis and Amy Mengay. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) claimed that Woodmere acted improperly in firing the two police officers and did so because they are white. The officers stated to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that Mayor Broadie (who is black, as is the majority of the residents of the village) unfairly fired them for minor offenses while allowing black officers who committed more serious infractions to stay on the job.
According to published reports, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) ruled in 2006 that the village violated the civil rights of the two officers and ordered Woodmere to reinstate them with back pay; but village officials, in what can only be characterized as an act of monumental stupidity, refused.
The DOJ sued and won and the village had to pay Mengay $125,000 and put her back on the job, while Ellis, who went to work for Sagamore Hills Township, received $31,250.
But that was just for starters. The former Police Chief LaMont Lockhart (who had been forced out of his job because he would not go along with Broadie’s antics) sued for more than $2 million claiming retaliation. He won $800,750 in combined compensatory damages against the village and the mayor and $1.2 million in punitive damages against the mayor. Both sides eventually agreed to settle for $1.37 million to avoid costly appeals.
But the hemorrhaging of money didn’t stop there. The village’s insurance carrier raised their rates from $30,000 per year to over $110,000 per year, and as part of the judgment Woodmere was forced to hire a part-time EEOC officer, at a cost of $20,000 when benefits are factored in.
Additionally, overtime for the police department was out of control when Smith took office. He reigned in spending, cut rampant overtime, and proposed cutting the size of the force or moving some of the officers to part time. However, the police union balked… in spite of the fact Woodmere is probably the most policed village in the country, if not the entire world. It has less than a square mile of land, but when Smith took office it had 14 officers.
Forced to make some tough decisions to stave off bankruptcy, Smith proposed entering into an agreement to have nearby Orange Village contract to police Woodmere. And when he did all hell broke loose. The same forces that worked to defeat a levy that would have provided more money for police are now working to prevent the move, which will save the village over half-a-million dollars.
“Some people out here want services they’re not willing to pay for,” said the newer resident, “so the police issue will eventually end up on the ballot and it’s going to be up to the reasonable people in the village to make the necessary and right decision.” When an election came up for Village Council the slate that supported Mayor Smith won, so momentum is on the side of those currently in control of the village. Now they’ll have to make sure people vote again, this time to keep the village solvent. Stay tuned, this could get real interesting.
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://www.neighborhoodsolutionsinc.com.