A resolution showing no confidence in Safety-Service Director Rick Dzik that calls for the mayor to dismiss him doesn't have unanimous support.
When Councilmember Samantha Scoles asks that her resolution be approved at the July 12 City Council meeting, Councilmember Julia Warga won't be supporting it.
Warga told the Mount Vernon News that Mayor Matt Starr gave Dzik what she considers harsh punishment for his actions.
“Mr. Dzik has also publicly apologized to council. And I would like to give him an opportunity to redeem himself and earn our forgiveness. I think it’s really important that we set an example of forgiveness here,” Warga said.
Dzik had been suspended without pay for two weeks by Starr after the Safety-Service director changed the council’s voting order for a meeting in which votes were taken on a College Township Fire and EMS contract and the decision to create a community advocate position for the police department.
“We didn’t hire him; we can’t fire him. But a vote of no confidence? We’re asking the mayor. We would like Mr. Dzik to go away and start anew,” Councilmember Mike Hillier said.
Starr has no plans to fire Dzik.
“It is not (the) council's job to issue discipline. That is my job, which I did swiftly and decisively,” Starr said.
Starr told the News he has no other meetings planned on the issue because he and Dzik have moved on from this.
Warga asked Law Director Rob Broeren to write the no-confidence resolution in case the council wanted to take that action and told the mayor it had been prepared.
“I was very clear from the onset that I’ve lost trust. And it wasn’t only what he did with the vote,” Hillier said.
Another problem Hillier had was that Dzik listened to a College Township meeting livestream under an assumed name and with no video.
“Any contracts – anything major, spending – it is going to take a lot more work on our part to make sure that we are being told all the facts. This is a tough thing for City Council,” Hillier said.
Warga has heard from a variety of constituents, including some who would like Dzik to leave his position. But, she said, more people have told her they want the city to heal and move on.
“The actions were questionable. I don’t disagree with that. And so I think it’s going to take time to demonstrate that he can be trustworthy,” Warga said.
A process for staff who fail to meet expectations at her workplace at Kenyon College could work here, she said. A plan is made to improve their work, and clear expectations are set for the future.
The council has little recourse beyond the passage of a resolution.
“Under the Ohio Revised Code and the Codified Ordinances of the City of Mount Vernon, the mayor has the sole authority to appoint and remove the Safety-Service director,” Broeren told News.
Scoles said it’s difficult to say what Dzik could do to regain the confidence of the council.
“At this point, he has apologized, but the lines are still blurry as to who in administration is going to be communicating to us about legislation,” she said.
Vote order change rejected
The council rejected a proposal introduced by former Councilmember Tanner Salyers to standardize the voting order by eliminating the rotation for voting.
“This is an unnecessary piece of legislation, brought because someone manipulated a vote to get the outcome of what they wanted,” Hillier said.
The council unanimously rejected changing the voting order.
