YOUNGSTOWN — A Boardman man who owes $6,187 in unpaid parking tickets in Youngstown voluntarily dismissed a civil lawsuit against Sarah Brown-Clark, the former Youngstown Municipal clerk of courts, for placing a warrant block on his driver’s license.

Meanwhile, Brown-Clark has sued the city, claiming she is due thousands of dollars in back pay.

Troy M. Adams filed the lawsuit Oct. 3, contending Brown-Clark had no authority to block the renewal of his driver’s license because he owes money on unpaid parking tickets.

Ronald D. Yarwood, Adams’ attorney, had the case dismissed Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Yarwood and Brown-Clark couldn’t be reached for comment.

Adams has more than 200 unpaid parking tickets that remained unpaid as of Wednesday.

Parking tickets are $10. The cost goes up to $20 if it’s not paid after 20 days and $30 if it’s unpaid after 30 days.

In the initial filing, Yarwood wrote because parking tickets in Youngstown are civil, a warrant block on a person’s driver’s license couldn’t be filed with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles.

About $1 million in unpaid parking tickets are in the city, with most of them written for cars downtown and near the Youngstown State University campus.

Brown-Clark, who retired Dec. 31 after 24 years as clerk of courts, unsuccessfully tried in 2019 to get city council to approve legislation to allow police to put tire boots and / or windshield barnacles on vehicles of repeat offenders. She said at the time it would be effective in getting those with numerous tickets to pay them.

BACK PAY LAWSUIT

Brown-Clark filed a lawsuit in the 7th District Court of Appeals against the city and Kyle Miasek, its finance director, Dec. 28 seeking $28,298 in unpaid salary increases for the last six years of her term.

After discussions with the city administration and city council, Brown-Clark agreed in December to accept $7,181 in additional salary for 2023. But council voted 4-3 on Dec. 20 against the payment.

Brown-Clark filed the lawsuit eight days later.

Brown-Clark said after the vote: “This is not over. I’m due that money. There are other avenues. This would have been the fair thing to do. This is an injustice.”

The city pays 60% of the Youngstown clerk of courts’ salary with Mahoning County paying the rest. While the county had increased Brown-Clark’s pay, the city didn’t during her final six years in elected office.

The rejected legislation by council would have increased the city’s portion of Brown-Clark’s annual salary from $67,389 to $74,570. Overall, her annual salary would have gone from $117,103 to $124,284.

In the lawsuit, Brown-Clark states the city and Miasek improperly froze her salary at the 2018 rate of $67,389. With salary increases under state law, Brown-Clark states she is owed $28,298 over the six years.

The city was served with the lawsuit Jan. 12 and hadn’t responded as of Wednesday.

Pay increases are included in the city’s master salary ordinance that council is supposed to approve.

When David Bozanich was city finance director, Brown-Clark would send him letters about her payroll increases and it would be handled by his department.

But when Miasek took over that stopped.

Miasek has said the paperwork he received from Brown-Clark was forwarded to the city’s law department.

The salary freeze now impacts Richard Vincent Hill, who replaced Brown-Clark last month as clerk of courts.