Uhrichsville Council approves the hiring of an outside attorney, but the mayor is exercising his right to veto.
Resolution 1985 was passed unanimously to hire a law firm to assist with a class action suit currently in Tuscarawas County Common Pleas Court. Kevin and Gerald Barker are suing to retain landlord registration fees paid to the city from 2020 through 2024. This follows a December 2024 ruling calling the fee unconstitutional.
Law Director Jeff Merklin says class action is a specific type of litigation that few attorneys practice, and it’s something he is not familiar with.
“The reason it’s needed in this case is the unique allegations of the lawsuit. Mr. Barker has filed to get his money back, but his attorneys have now asked to make it a class action so that all the landlords can join and try to get all their money back. Class action is a very specified, specific type of litigation. Very few attorneys do that, and I’ve never done that before. I’ll study and I’ll give it my best effort, but my client is not the mayor, my client really isn’t the council it’s the citizens. The citizens really need this to go through and have the assistance granted because the landlords have some of the best attorneys in the state on this. We really need this to happen. If it doesn’t, I’ll do my best.”
The Barker’s have a class action lawyer attached to their case.
Mayor Jim Zucal is choosing to veto the resolution.
“Because I believe that we pay our law director. He’s in house, he’s compensated well, and I think he needs to represent the city in this matter, bottom line.”
Zucal says he’s in favor of offering a settlement with the Barker’s.
“Those people that filed and paid with an objection, they had to file with an object at the time, I believe should be reimbursed but I don’t think to draw this out and put a lot of legal fee, and we have a law director on staff. He told me that he passed the bar, that was his words, and my opinion is, and I’ll be very clear about it, do your job.”
The mayor adds that city council can override the with a two-thirds majority vote.
“We have three new members and I’m not even sure those three members knew what they were voting on. I’m at 100 percent objection to anyone handling our legal matters when we have a law director paid $40,000 a year plus an office stipend.”
The Resolution approves hiring legal counsel with a $10,000 retainer and a maximum of $30,000.
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