TOLEDO, Ohio — Council meetings are looking a little more sparse now since the June 30 arrests of Larry Sykes, Tyrone Riley, Yvonne Harper and Gary Johnson over a bribes-for-votes scheme.
In just over a month, council lost one-third of its members after their suspensions were accepted by a panel from the Ohio Supreme Court last Friday. So now, the process of temporary replacement begins.
"I have 46 applicants as of last night for the four positions, so yeah, quite a bit of interest," Probate Court Judge Jack Puffenberger said.
With nearly three weeks to go, Judge Jack Puffenberger is anticipating it will take two weeks to go through and find the four replacements after the Aug. 21 deadline for applications.
There is a trend he's noticed with applicants up to now.
"The list is pretty much dominated by men, 33 of the applicants are men and 13 are women," Puffenberger said.
Meanwhile, active council member Katie Moline has established annual ethics training and if approved next week, she'll lead a newly-formed council ethics commission.
Every current member of council has signed on.
"Democracy only really works when the people trust their government and when the government works for the people," Moline said.
The city has also rolled out an e-comment feature to make it easier for people to ask questions at meetings, something that's more difficult since city council started meeting virtually.
"The accountability we have to citizens, we'll actually be able to hear from them on specific pieces of legislation. I think the way ti's set up in Legistar, it removes another barrier, another layer," Moline said.
Council will be holding a special meeting Wednesday at 11 a.m. after a miscommunication and a suspended Council Member Sykes voting Monday.
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