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Toledo mayor reacts to council suspending auditor, attempted removal of council president

Toledo City Auditor John Jaksetic was suspended for 30 days by Toledo City Council. A vote to recall Council President Matt Cherry failed at the same meeting.

TOLEDO, Ohio — Toledo's city auditor was suspended for 30 days at a special city council meeting Tuesday "to review job performance and investigate conduct to other city employees," Council President Matt Cherry said.

John Jaksetic was suspended after a 10-1 vote. At-large Council Member Katie Moline was the sole vote against the suspension.

At-large Council Member Nick Komives said Cherry has shown "a lack of leadership" and made a motion to remove him from his position as council president.

The vote failed 8-3, with Komives, Moline and District 1 Council Member John Hobbs voting in favor of removing Cherry.

After the meeting, Moline said Cherry's move to suspend Jaksetic without first consulting the rest of city council was improper.

The city did not give a reason for Jaksetic's suspension. Jaksetic claimed he is being retaliated against in a letter sent to council Monday.

WTOL 11 reached out to city representatives for comment on Jaksetic's claims.

On Wednesday, Cherry released the following statement on the vote to strip him of his status as council president:

“As any leader knows, it is difficult to make everyone happy 100% of the time," he said. "I am happy that the vast majority of my colleagues affirmed my role as President of Council yesterday. As I have done from day one in this role, I will continue to work with every member of Council to advance the city’s agenda and support our residents and businesses."

Also Wednesday, WTOL 11 spoke with Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz about Tuesday's events. He said the meeting spoke to "frustration" he believes council has had with Jaksetic for "some time."

"The first thing I should say right off the top is that the city auditor works for city council," Kapszukiewicz said. "It's one of the few positions in city government that doesn't report to the mayor. As unusual as that meeting was, ultimately this is a problem that can only be solved by city council. The auditor is hired by council, is fired by council, is disciplined by council.

"We'll get through it and I know city council has put a process in place to resolve the issue. Regardless of any drama that happened with the president of council, they voted yesterday, overwhelmingly to suspend the auditor. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to put some things together there. They're not happy. They may not be thrilled with the president, but they're really not happy with the auditor or else they wouldn't have suspended him."

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