NEWS

Mayor refuses to investigate Sagar

Chad Klimack

PATASKALA – The city’s mayor has refused to launch an investigation into a councilwoman facing recall, despite pleas from a resident and a fellow councilman.

Mayor Mike Compton was steadfast in his stance, the latest turn in a controversial recall effort that reached a head during a Monday night council meeting in which one councilman accused another of lying.

Resident Eileen DeRolf started the meeting by again asking the council to launch an investigation into the actions of 1st Ward Councilwoman Pat Sagar.

Part of an effort to recall Sagar, DeRolf said Sagar asked Pataskala Police at a Jan. 15 hearing to tell DeRolf she no longer could talk to Sagar.

DeRolf said the city should launch an investigation, and if it does not she threatened to involve an outside group, such as The 1851 Center for Constitutional Law.

Councilman Mike Fox also called for an investigation, but no one on the council seconded his subsequent motion, prompting the motion to die.

Mayor Mike Compton explained his reasoning for not kick-starting an investigation.

“That has been discussed,” Compton said. “It has been put to bed, and I’m not asking for an investigation on something that already has been taken care of.”

Compton said he and DeRolf met with Police Chief Bruce Brooks earlier this year in an effort to clear the air. The incident only came up again during the recent recall effort.

“We both assured her she could talk to Mrs. Sagar but probably not about her son and the accident, which was a sore issue. ...” Compton said.

Sagar on Monday addressed the alleged incident, saying she only asked the police to get involved after DeRolf on separate occasions referenced a 1990 car crash involving her son. The crash left her son in a coma for eight weeks, in the hospital for many more and permanently disabled.

The incident between Sagar and DeRolf occurred in the midst of a controversial removal proceeding involving Fox. Sagar cast the lone vote against a Jan. 15 agreement, which ended removal proceedings against Fox, who was facing wrongdoing in office allegations leveled at him by the city’s previous mayor, Steve Butcher, a longtime political rival.

Some of the people behind the recall, including DeRolf, voiced support for Fox both during and following the removal proceedings.

DeRolf questioned how Sagar could not support Fox during the removal proceedings considering Fox contended he was on the scene of the car crash and attempted to save her son’s life, Sagar said. DeRolf brought up the question in an email and a telephone conversation, Sagar said. After DeRolf and another resident approached her at a Jan. 15 hearing and the subject of her son’s crash again came up, Sagar said she began crying and Pataskala Police Chief Bruce Brooks approached her. It was at that point Sagar said she no longer wanted to talk to DeRolf, and an officer relayed the message.

Fox on Monday called Sagar a “liar” when she said Fox approached her years after the crash and said “You owe me big,” referencing his purported role in the crash.

Sagar, meanwhile, said she is more than willing to speak to DeRolf. However, she does not want any future discussions to touch on her son’s car crash.

“I find it difficult to (understand) my son and his accident having anything to do with city business,” Sagar said. “I did cry. I asked the police to have her not talk to me anymore. I would be happy to talk to (her) if (she) leaves my son, my disabled son, alone and out of it. It has nothing to do with city business.”

“What a joke,” Fox responded before again accusing Sagar of lying.

Compton then asked Fox to contain himself.

Councilwoman Melissa Gibson, who was appointed to fill the unexpired term of 2nd Ward Councilwoman Merissa McKinstry seven months ago, objected to the lack of decorum, saying there was no room for “calling names and attempting to act as if we’re in a classroom when we’re really helping run a city.”

Gibson also voiced support for Sagar, who is facing the Aug. 19 recall.