Staff photo / Ed Runyan ... Jim Melone takes the oath of office Monday in the rotunda of the Mahoning County Courthouse as Struthers Municipal Court judge. He has been a magistrate in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for seven years for Judge Anthony D’Apolito, who administered the oath. Melone takes the bench Jan 1. His wife, Karen Romano Melone, a magistrate in Mahoning County Juvenile Court, is holding the Bible.

YOUNGSTOWN — James Melone, who was elected judge of Struthers Municipal Court in the November general election, says he had planned to be sworn in Monday as Struthers Municipal Court judge regardless of the legal action filed by supporters of his opponent in the election.

Melone said Monday he did not believe the legal action would stop him from taking office Jan. 1 and did not “play any part” in the decision to have his boss, Judge Anthony D’Apolito, swear him in Monday.

The legal action filed by supporters of candidate Jennifer Ciccone was withdrawn recently, and the 7th District Court of appeals agreed to dismiss it Thursday.

Melone defeated Ciccone by more than 10 percent in the election – 7,344 votes to 5,951.

Melone won the Democratic primary over then-incumbent Dominic R. Leone III with Ciccone running unopposed in the Republican primary. He earned a six-year term, one year longer than his seven years as a magistrate for D’Apolito. As magistrate, he handled the lawsuits assigned to D’Apolito.

The judge told the large audience that over the years, Melone’s “mind and legal reasoning continued to impress me,” adding that “I appreciated having someone to rely upon if I had a question about the law.”

He said parties with a case before Melone felt that “no matter what the decision was, even if they disagreed with it, they knew that they had a chance to have their say. And I admired that about him.”

He said Melone “has extreme character and extreme integrity” and is “just a good guy.”

Melone, who wrestled while a student at Boardman schools, said, “The politics game can be dirty, nasty, cut-throat, all of those things, but I find myself fortunate. I find myself blessed because I was surrounded by such good people throughout this process. It’s easy, I think, to maybe get sucked into the mud when you get into this political game, but I just had good people surrounding me.”

He said, “When I was tired and didn’t want to go out and do the work, I had those people to push me, and they always stressed and believed in doing it in such a positive manner. There was never a thought of doing it any other way.”

He said he met “thousands of wonderful people that I would not have met otherwise. I was able to support charities and different social events that I probably would not have gone to otherwise.”

The litigation filed by Ciccone’s supporters contended, without providing details, massive fraud existed in the Melone-Ciccone race.

Ciccone was appointed by Gov. Mike DeWine, a fellow Republican, a little over a month before the Nov. 7 election in an unusual move. DeWine usually spends months vetting candidates for judicial appointments.

Melone presided over a high-profile civil hearing last week involving the Mill Creek MetroParks in his role as magistrate. It was the first hearing among the lawyers for the MetroParks and property owners involved in eight lawsuits filed by the MetroParks. The suits were an attempt to use eminent domain to acquire rights of way to build the final phase of the MetroParks Bikeway in Green Township.

Judge John Durkin ruled to consolidate the cases into one after years of litigation that included one of the cases being heard by the Ohio Supreme Court, which sent it back to common pleas court for a “necessity hearing.” The purpose of the hearing is for the MetroParks to try to show the necessity to acquire the rights of way.

The combined case is intended to “determine any and all matters related to the MetroParks’ “right” to appropriate the land from the property owners, “the inability of the parties to agree, or the necessity for” taking the land, Judge Durkin ruled.

Last week’s hearing was held to determine how to best move forward with the novel situation.

Melone made the attorneys at the hearing aware that because he was declared the winner of the election for Struthers Municipal Court judge last month, he will no longer handle this case after Dec. 31. His replacement as magistrate, attorney Scott Fowler, attended the hearing to listen to the discussion.

The Struthers Municipal Court’s jurisdiction is Struthers, Lowellville, New Middletown, Springfield Township and Poland village and township.

erunyan@vindy.com