YOUNGSTOWN — A judge ruled in favor of Youngstown by dismissing a lawsuit filed by Sarah Brown-Clark, the city’s former longtime clerk of courts, who contends she is entitled to $28,298 in unpaid salary increases for the final six years of her term.

Mahoning County Common Pleas Court Judge John M. Durkin on Tuesday granted the city’s motion for summary judgment.

He wrote: “In this case, construing the evidence in a light most favorable to Brown-Clark, reasonable minds can come to but one conclusion and that is Brown-Clark cannot demonstrate either a clear legal right to additional compensation or a clear legal duty on the part of Youngstown to pay it. Therefore, Youngstown’s motion for summary judgment is sustained. Brown-Clark’s writ of mandamus is denied.”

Durkin wrote: “Summary judgment is a procedural device to terminate litigation and to avoid a formal trial where there is nothing to try. Summary judgment is to be granted when it appears from all the submitted evidentiary materials that reasonable minds can reach only a conclusion adverse to the party opposing the motion.”

Jason Small, a Youngstown senior assistant law director, said the city is “certainly satisfied with the judgment. We believe it’s in line with the revised code over clerk of courts.”

Brown-Clark filed the case against the city and Kyle Miasek, its finance director, on Dec. 28, 2023, eight days after city council voted 4-3 against giving her a $7,181 raise for 2023.

After the vote, Brown-Clark said: “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.”

At the heart of the legal dispute is Ohio Revised Code Section 1901.31 regarding clerks of courts and specifically a provision exempting certain cities and counties with populations under 100,000 residents, including Youngstown, from having an appointed clerk of courts and requiring that person be elected.

In Brown-Clark’s lawsuit, Kevin Daley, her attorney, wrote that Youngstown “is legislatively determined to be a municipality with a population greater than 100,000 for the purpose of calculating the clerk of court’s salary.”

Under that requirement, the clerk of courts would get 85% of the municipal court judges’ salary.

But in a March 7, 2024, motion to dismiss that was converted by the court to a motion for summary judgment 19 days later, Adam Buente, a city deputy law director, wrote the statute states if a city’s population is under 100,000 and its court’s revenue is less than its expenditures “the clerk of court of a municipal court shall receive the annual compensation that the legislative authority prescribes.”

There are exemptions included in the law, but not for Youngstown, Durkin ruled.

“The General Assembly had the chance to carve out the same exemption for the Youngstown Municipal Court,” but “expressly chose not to do so. Thus, Youngstown’s clerk of court is not exempted.”

Durkin also agreed with the city that the exemption for Youngstown to have an elected clerk of courts “has nothing to do with the setting of Brown-Clark’s compensation.”

The city pays 60% of the Youngstown clerk of courts salary with Mahoning County paying the rest.

The rejected legislation by council would have increased the city’s portion of Brown-Clark’s annual salary from $67,389 to $74,570 in 2024. Overall, her annual salary would have gone from $117,103 to $124,284 that year.

The only city employees who made more than Brown-Clark in annual base pay were the two municipal court judges.

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

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. Bozanich served as the city’s finance director from Nov. 15, 1993, to Dec. 31, 2017.

Brown-Clark was paid 85% of the municipal court judges’ salary for the first 18 of her 24 years as clerk of courts. Brown-Clark chose not to seek reelection in 2023.

But when Miasek took over as finance director, that stopped.

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