Lawyer drops petition to raise trustees’ bonds

A Powell attorney has withdrawn a petition demanding $1 million insurance bonds on two Liberty Township trustees.

The petition had been filed in the belief that the trustees have lost the support of residents over their handling of the township EMS service, and attorney Gary Yashko said the standoff between trustees and residents has not been resolved.

Yashko filed the notice to dismiss Wednesday, noting that there was a technical error in his application to raise the bonds of trustees Melanie Leneghan and Michael Gemperline.

Attorney Patrick Kasson, who represents the trustees, called Yashko’s legal request on behalf of residents who oppose the trustee’s decisions related to township emergency services a “silly political attack that lacks in factual basis.” Kasson had filed a motion late last week to dismiss the request.

Residents have been angered by recent attempts to replace the township’s EMS with service from Delaware County. Proponents cite cost and performance efficiencies.

Gemperline and Leneghan voted last month to replace the township joint fire/ EMS department’s longtime medical director, who is affiliated with Ohiohealth, with the county’s director, who is aligned with Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center.

Yashko said the technical error involved an amendment to his original application to raise the bonds. That amendment failed to include new signatures, and a visiting judge told him that photocopying the original signatures was illegal.

“We can refile it and correct the technical difficulties,” Yashko said. “We are looking at all of our options, including other legal actions.”

He said others in the community are looking into a “different petition to have (the trustees) removed from office” via a Delaware County Common Pleas Court ruling.

Kasson has argued that the trustees have insurance coverage of $6 million through the Ohio Township Association Risk Management Authority.

Yashko said the trustees “should not consider this to be a victory for the trustees on the merits.” He said that certain conduct is not covered by the township association’s insurance pool and that the township residents shouldn’t have to pay for unpopular, potentially damaging decisions by their elected officials.