State ex rel. Layshock v. Moorehead, 185 Ohio App.3d 94, 2009-Ohio-6039.
Layshock, the Mayor of the City of Newton Falls, presided over the regularly-scheduled July 6, 2009,
meeting of the Newton Falls City Council. Moorehead, the Council Vice President, raised a question
relating to whether disciplinary action should be taken against the Mayor. The Mayor then handed his
gavel to the President of Council and left the council table and sat in the area reserved for the public.
During the public comment portion of the meeting, the Mayor stepped to the podium and announced that
he was resigning his position as Mayor, effective August 1, 2009, and left the meeting. Council adjourned
into executive session but did not take any action to accept the resignation.
The next day, Moorehead instructed the Clerk to schedule an emergency meeting of City Council. Four
minutes after the Clerk completed the process of mailing the notices, the Mayor walked into the Clerk’s
office and handed her a written correspondence rescinding his prior resignation. The written
correspondence requested that the Clerk “make sure that all of council receives a copy of this letter.” The
Clerk provided copies to the members three days later, after the emergency meeting, as part of the
packet for the regular council meeting. On the morning of the emergency meeting, the Mayor had
delivered a second written correspondence to the Clerk clarifying that the rescission of the resignation
took effect immediately. The letter was also sent as part of the pack for the regular council meeting and,
therefore, the Council members did not receive actual notice of either of the Mayor’s rescission letters
prior to the emergency meeting. At the emergency meeting, City Council voted to unanimously accept the
Mayor’s prior resignation, and Moorehead was designated as the “acting” Mayor pursuant to City Charter.
The Mayor then brought an action for a writ of quo warranto alleging that Moorehead had unlawfully
usurped the office of the Mayor.
The Eleventh District Court of Appeals began its analysis by noting that case law in Ohio “clearly permits
a public employee to rescind his resignation of a position office, unless certain exceptions apply.” In this
instance, the Eleventh District concluded the Mayor “acted appropriately in officially filing his ‘rescission’
letters” with the Clerk and “the sitting members of city council had constructive notice of the rescission
prior to passage of the resolution accepting the resignation.” The Eleventh District granted the writ of quo
warranto against Moorehead and held that “he is hereby ousted from the position of ‘acting’ mayor of the
City of Newton Falls, Ohio.”
Note: This case was appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court, and the appeal was accepted. Layshock filed
a motion to dismiss and the motion was granted on June 23, 2010. On July 2, 2010, Moorehead filed a
motion for reconsideration.
