CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — A group of locals plan to protest the next Chillicothe City Council meeting about the council’s decision to reject two nominees to the local health board.
It all stems from the nominations of Dr. John Gabis and Ceil Corcoran to the city’s health commission. The names were proposed by Mayor Luke Feeney, who is a Democrat and is required to get the consent of the majority of city council before the board seats are officially appointed.
In their last meeting, the majority members of council rejected Feeney’s nominations down party lines, with the minority members — all Democrats — approving the nominations and the majority, which are Republican members voting “no.”
Gabis and Corcoran are both registered Democrats. Gabis served as County Coroner for more than 25 years and Corcoran is a previously-elected city councilwoman who left her post last year; each have served on several boards and commissions throughout the county.
The rejections are a first for a liberal mayor like Feeney — who spoke at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in support of Hillary Clinton. Having held the title since 2016, Mayor Feeney had a Democratic majority on council who approved his previous board appointments over the years. This year, however, Republicans won the majority on council, causing quite the headache for a man who was used to getting everything rubberstamped by those who were arguably loyalists.
Many in the community have took to social media to express their frustration over the rejections by citing partisan attacks, while the Republican members who voted down the appointments have aired their displeasure of the process.
What councilmembers are saying.
“I would just like to see some consistency in regards to how things are handled procedure wise. Being a new councilmember I actually had no idea we appoint individuals to the health district board, or I should say the Mayor does and we vote on his appointees,” said Republican Councilwoman Julie Preston. “I have greatly educated myself in the procedure since that night. I would have loved to have had a conversation in regards to this process prior to that night instead of walking in to a letter on my desk requesting me to approve this. I would have liked to have seen the matter sent to a committee so we, as councilmembers could have attended such meeting and had the Mayor explain to the board the appointment as well as the appointees he wanted considered, and maybe even going as far as bringing the appointees to the committee meeting in case any of us had any questions for them. I think conversation means everything in this world and all I would like to see is some premeditation to things and most importantly, conversations. My vote was not a slam on their character as a person or the job they might do but basically just the process that we need to improve.”
Dr. Allison Henderson, who is a Republican and sits on council agreed with Preston when reached by the Guardian on Wednesday.
“We were not given adequate time to fully research and vet the candidates,” opined Dr. Henderson. “There was no presentation or discussion made available as to why Mayor Feeney chose those candidates to nominate. I believe the voters deserve that time and effort be made to approve appropriately.”
Deidre Nickerson, a Democratic councilwoman voted for the appointments.
“I will say, it is the Mayor’s appointment. We would hope he would vet the candidates,” said Nickerson. “A councilmember has a right to vote yes, no, or abstain. It’s not for the council to vet appointments. [The members who voted no] approved other appointments prior to these votes …. Dr. Gabis is a stellar leader. Ceil Corcoran served for nine years on the health board prior to her city council terms.”
Changing up the votes.
One issue Nickerson pointed to was the way the voting order took place for the agenda item. Normally, a routine roll call takes place with each councilmember’s name being called off by the clerk, who records the vote. Historically, the votes have gone in order of wards, but on the night of the appointments to the health board, things were changed up — specifically before the board appointment vote.
Public records show that the council’s new President — who is a Republican — Joe Geiringer, passed a note to the council’s clerk instructing her to switch up the way voting was handled. Because the vote ended up being 5-4 down party lines, it’s this move by Geiringer that some are calling a political attack, while the President said it was simply coincidental timing.
“I find it very disturbing. Dr. Gabis is one of the best physicians Ross County has ever had, at least in my lifetime. Ceil Corcoran is an incredible public servant. I see this move by the council as purely political and it stinks,” said national political activist Portia Boulger, who lives in Ross County. “It smells of the ‘Trumpism’ that is doing so much harm to folks across our country.”
Geiringer refuted the claim and said that the change in the voting order was merely by happenstance.
“I had verbally discussed it previously but forgot to give specific instruction. I wrote down an order and handed to [the clerk] just to mix it up. Coincidence voting order wouldn’t change outcome of vote,” the President told the Guardian on Wednesday. He added, however, that he felt the Republican members wanted board appointees who reflected conservative views.
“I believe each individual member of council may have their own reasons for not supporting either Dr. Gabis or Ms. Corcoran. It can be boiled down to a conservative majority of council is not going to approve nominations of persons that don’t reflect conservative values,” he said. “These positions on the board are of importance and influence. Other doctors have expressed interest in the role, as well. Being a doctor is neither a requirement or necessity for the board. Some people — at this point overwhelmingly Democrat and very few in number — feel he was more than qualified. Others reached out prior to the vote to express their concern over these two nominations and their influence on the board …. every complaint about this rejection [who] has noted a concern with it being ‘political’ has been raised almost exclusively by ardent Democrats. This fact, alone illustrates that certain individuals know the influence of these positions. The health district board has a quorum and their business will not be disrupted by the vacancies. The contract states [the] Mayor appoints and council must approve. This in its basis is the checks and balances of the agreement and council acted on the power granted them.”
Political division is to blame.
Mayor Luke Feeney said that he did not see why the appointments were not approved.
“My reaction is that I don’t think there is any reason these appointments should be difficult,” the mayor said. “We have an obligation to appoint members to the district and I’m trying to do my part to appoint qualified people who have a record of being committed to the health and welfare of our community.”
On the national level, a similar process occurs for appointments: the President of the United States recommends a name to a position and Congress must approve the appointment. In Chillicothe, however, national politics seem to be bleeding over for the first time in local history.
“As a lifelong Chillicothe resident, it saddens me to see members putting politics over people’s best interests,” said Ross County Democratic Chairman Tom Spetnagel. “Dr. Gabis and Ceil Corcoran are obviously qualified to sit on the board — arguably more qualified than some of the existing board members. City residents should reject this outright partisanship, which belongs in Washington D.C. rather than City Hall.”
Ross County Republican Chairman David Glass disagreed. He said that the local GOP had no influence over the councilmembers who voted the appointments down.
“The Ross County Republican Party exists to elect candidates to office at the federal, state, and local level. Our role is not to guide local policy, and therefore does not have an official position on this issue; that responsibility, in this case belongs to city government. As citizens and members of the community, we have the upmost confidence in city council members to represent their fellow citizens and in the administration to work with them to make Chillicothe a place we are all proud to live.”
An online Facebook event titled “Stand Up Chillicothe” has several dozen names registered to attend a protest this coming Monday night at council’s next meeting to voice opposition to the objections.
All members of council were contacted for this story. Those who responded were included.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was updated to include a comment from the Mayor, who sent his response after the story was published.