WARREN — A legal battle in U.S. Northern Ohio District Court between a former 911 director and the Trumbull County commissioners may be determined by a summary judgment from the commissioners’ attorney, Kathleen M. Minahan, who questions whether the evidence provided is enough to warrant a trial.

In the summary judgment, the attorney for the county officials argued the claims made by Cook failed to be backed up with sufficient evidence to support his claims of age discrimination.

One of the claims made by Cook referred to commissioner Niki Frenchko’s campaign platform of getting rid of the “good ol boys”, which the attorney for the commissioner argues was a “colloquialism that did not directly refer to Cook.”

In the court document, the attorney for the commissioners says it was used in reference to “anyone who was politically connected and acquired positions, contracts, or favor based on connections and their membership, so to speak, with the club.”

Minahan said that comment doesn’t represent direct evidence of age discrimination as alleged by Cook.

An allegation from Cook that Frenchko called former commissioner Frank Fuda, “too old” and thus the commissioners needed to find someone younger with better computer skills was also challenged by the attorney because it didn’t refer to Cook or his termination.

On Jan. 21, 2021, the issue of Cook’s employment was discussed by the commissioners during an executive session before voting unanimously in open session to proceed with terminating Cook.

The commissioners’ attorney wrote that Cook filed his lawsuit alleging age discrimination after his attempt to receive relief from his appeal failed.

To make the argument for age discrimination, the attorney for the commissioners said Cook must come forward with evidence on all four bases that prove he’s in a protected class: Over 40 years of age; qualified for the position; terminated from the position; and that he was replaced by a younger person.

The attorney argued that Cook’s case failed on the fourth basis because he was not replaced.

The attorney cited guidance from the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit that defined being replaced as, “A person is replaced only when another employee is hired or reassigned to perform the plaintiff (Cook’s) duties.”

After the meeting to terminate Cook, 911 operations supervisor Patty Goldner was tapped to take over the role temporarily as interim 911 director.

According to the court documents, the commissioner did not make an effort to hire someone permanently to the role until about 23 months later in December of 2022 — when the county began advertisements for the position, for which the document states Goldner did not apply.

When a second opening was posted between March 21 and April 5, 2023, Goldner again did not apply, the court documents said.

During testimony from Trumbull County Human Resources Director Alexandra DeVengencie-Bush she said, “I have no knowledge of why we didn’t pursue the posting quicker, besides there was no HR.”

In her testimony, Bush also indicated that Goldner expressed no interest in taking over the role permanently.

As a long-term option is still being mulled over by the commissioners, Goldner is still serving in the role of interim director while also performing her duties as operations supervisor.

The motion argues that based on those facts, “a jury could not conclude that Cook was replaced by Goldner.”

If the argument could be made for age discrimination, the attorney said in the motion that there were still “legitimate, nondiscriminatory” reasons for the commissioners to terminate Cook.

Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa during his testimony said that “age played no role” when he voted in favor of terminating Cook. He says he did so because of Cook’s accident in 2018 which Cantalamessa said “didn’t seem to be defensible” as the aftermath drew negative criticism from the public.

In January 2021, Cook pleaded no contest and was found guilty of loss of physical control and failure to report an accident that occured in July 2018.

When Brookfield police showed up to Cook’s home following the accident, they reported that he “smelled strongly of alcohol, slurred his speech significantly and appeared highly intoxicated.”

Despite avoiding a jail sentence, Cook was given six months of reporting probation and was ordered to pay a $650 fine. About a week later was when the decision to terminate Cook was made.

“Somebody that is former law enforcement, that’s in a quasi law enforcement position now as director of 911, a position of trust, a position of authority, a position of respect, and couple that with the egregiousness of the act, I mean, at some point, this is somebody that there was an accident that wasn’t reported, in my opinion, and the person who had the accident was in charge of a department where accidents are reported,” Cantalamessa said.

Frenchko, who took office three weeks prior to Cook being terminated, testified that while she never met or spoke to Cook, her meetings with constituents, stakeholders and employers during her campaign helped influence her vote, not anything pertaining to the age of Cook.

Frenchko believed that with his job duties, Cook’s run-in with authorities reflected poorly on him.

She also claimed Cook had failed to meet certain requirements of the job by “failing to facilitate cooperation with public service agencies, was dishonest about the accident and provided a false statement to police.”

Fuda said during his testimony he voted to terminate Cook based on his respect for Cantalamessa’s decision to do so.

The motion highlights that multiple people, including Bristol fire Chief Tom Dempsey; Commissioner Denny Malloy; a reporter from the Tribune Chronicle; and several 911 department employees had been critical of the 911 department.

“Once an employer has offered a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for termination, the burden of production shifts back to the employee to show that the stated reason(s) are pretextual,” the commissioners’ attorney wrote.

The attorney for the commissioners concluded the summary judgment with an appeal to the court to grant judgment in their favor.

cmcbride@tribtoday.com