GEORGETOWN – Georgetown Village Council held a lengthy executive session Thursday, June 11 to interview five candidates for the position of village solicitor. Longtime solicitor Jay Cutrell announced his retirement at a previous meeting effective June 30.
Those candidates interviewed were Joe Braun, Nick Ring, Thomas Mayes, Rachel Triplett and Tracy Hawkins. Each was given 15 minutes for an interview with council.
In on the hiring process were Mayor Dale Cahall, Village Administrator Art Owens, Police Chief Rob Freeland and Fiscal Officer Natalie Newberry. The decision on hiring rested only with council members Drew Watson, Dennis White, Kelly Cornette, Dave Guenther and Susan Bean. There is currently one vacancy on council with the resignation of Raelena Morrison at the previous meeting.
The mayor, police chief and administrator were involved in the process to ask questions and provide input.
When council returned from executive session Mayor Cahall turned the meeting over to council. Council member Cornette moved to nominate Joe Braun from Strauss Troy Attorneys At Law. Council member Bean seconded the motion. He was approved 5-0.
Braun will start July 1. Braun’s practice specializes in areas of civil litigation, local government, employment and general business law. Strauss Troy is located in downtown Cincinnati. Braun resides in the Milford area. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Kentucky and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Toledo.
“This was a very tough decision. We’ve had your resumes and your work histories for a good number of days here and there are quality people who wanted to be here. Every one of them could be picked,” said Mayor Cahall of the interview process.
The mayor then asked council members for comments.
Only council member White spoke up.
“We really appreciate all the interest that was shown and it was really a hard decision,” said White.
Council still has to fill a vacant council seat. It seemed to be the consensus of council to fill the position at the next meeting. It was decided to have a regular meeting 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 17 since council would not have a quorum because of vacations by council members on the fourth Thursday of the month.
If council can not agree on an appointment by the end of the month, the mayor will make the appointment.
Also, a Planning Commission meeting has been set for 6:30 p.m. on Monday, June 22.
The planning commission will be dealing with the suggestions and revisions made by council at a joint meeting that was previously held. Once those changes have been made, according to the mayor, the zoning document will go back to council. After that, according to the mayor, public hearings would be held on zoning.
