The East Cleveland Narrator 2014 Issue 7, November | Page 2
he East Cleveland Narrator • November 2014 • Vol 1 • Issue 7
9
DIGITAL EDITION EXTRAS
EAST CLEVELAND FINANCE DIRECTOR RESPONDS TO NOVEMBER 24
FINANCIAL COMMISSION MEETING
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Ohio Auditor David Yost at‐
tended the City of East Cleve‐
land Financial Planning and Su‐
pervision Commission meeting
Monday, November 24, 2014.
Yost said that, because of the
city’s inancial crisis, the city
needs to:
• Generate new revenue.
• Make additional budget
cuts.
• Renegotiate debt
amounts with creditors.
• Or merge with another
municipality.
East Cleveland Mayor Gary
Norton did not attend the
meeting. He indicated publicly
at October’s Commission meet‐
ing that he could not make the
“Time's up...What I think
is the most realistic
option is filing Chapter 9
bankruptcy.” -Jack
Johnson, East Cleveland
Finance Director
one in November. He could not
be reached for comment.
Finance Director Jack Johnson
also did not attend on Novem‐
ber 24. By telephone on
Tuesday, November 25, he told
the Narrator his second em‐
ployer, t he city of
Independence, required that he
attend a meeting there that day.
“I had no idea the state auditor
was even going to be there,” said
Johnson.
Johnson said East Cleveland of-
icials are not currently dis‐
cussing the option of merging
with other cities.
Regarding Yost’s recommenda‐
tions to generate new revenue
and make more budget cuts,
Johnson said, “We are looking
at a million dollar shortfall…I
think that what needs to be
done has to be done by the end
of the year…Time’s up.”
What should be done, accord‐
ing to Johnson? “What I think
is the most realistic option is il‐
ing Chapter 9 bankruptcy,” he
said.
Johnson spoke of the loan Yost’s
office originally recommended,
in July, the city seek. At Novem‐
ber’s meeting, Yost gave the
loan idea a thumbs down. In a
a letter submitted to committee
members, he wrote: “his office
cannot support borrowing
without a clear plan that elimi‐
nates the structural deicit.”
In July, why would the auditor’s
office recommend that the city
seek a loan when the city’s i‐
nances were in the same critical
state then as they are now?
Responding to Yost’s statement,
Johnson said, “It is a real big
disappointment that one part of
the auditor’s office suggested a
loan while another part said
‘We’re not going to do that.’ It’s
deinitely mixed signals.”
Time that could have been
spent trying to solve the city