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Richfield Council appoints new member



Richfield Village Council appointed Jeff Stoppenhagen to the Council seat vacated by Michael Wheeler, who was elected mayor in November. Photo courtesy of Jeff Stoppenhagen

RICHFIELD — Richfield Village Council members made clear their intentions in regards to filling the empty Council seat at the Jan. 7 meeting.
With Michael Wheeler winning the mayor’s race in November’s General Election, he vacated his Council seat last month.
While the mayor’s race was on the ballot, several seats on Richfield Village Council also were up for election. Then-mayor Bobbie Beshara was term limited and could not run for re-election. However, she was successful in her bid for election to one of the three seats up for election on Council. The top vote-getters among the six candidates who ran included Sue Ann Philippbar with 27 percent of the vote, Charles Boester with 18 percent and Beshara with 17 percent.
Jeff Stoppenhagen was the fourth highest voter-getter and Council agreed he should be appointed to Wheeler’s seat. Stoppenhagen finished 13 votes behind Beshara and 20 votes behind Boester.
“I think if anybody puts themselves out there and is that interested, they should be appointed for that seat,” said Beshara.
Council did not set a date for when Stoppenhagen will be sworn in.
According to Stoppenhagen, he is a quality manager for the GBS PrinTech Division at GBS Corp. The 55-year-old, who has been a Richfield resident for 14 years, earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from Ohio University, where he majored in graphic design and minored in drawing and art history.
In other news, Council unanimously approved purchasing three new vehicles for the Richfield Police Department.
The purchase is for three Ford Police Interceptor Explorers under the Ohio Department of Administrative Services State Purchasing Program from Montrose Ford at a cost not to exceed $115,000.
In other business:
• Council learned ownership of Doug Out Pub & Grill has changed hands. Council and Police Chief Mike Swanson agreed not to conduct a liquor license transfer hearing.
• A meeting was scheduled for last night, Jan. 15, to interview five candidates for a Richfield Joint Recreation District (RJRD) board position.
RJRD Board Chairman Bob Becker urged Council to reappoint board member Meg Slifcak.
Council also approved:
√ the appointments of Tracy Schwotzer to the Board of Zoning Appeals, Monica Day and Dan Holahan to the Planning and Zoning Commission (PZC) and Amy Huey to the Park Board; and
√ to refer an ordinance amending the planning and zoning code to amend the definition of accessory building and accessory use to the PZC. A public hearing on the ordinance will be held Feb. 18 at 6:30 p.m.
At an organizational meeting Jan. 2, Councilman Mike Lyons was elected president and Councilman Gary Domanick was elected vice president. Jeff Gorman was appointed clerk for another year, and Boester was appointed to serve as Council’s representative on the PZC.
The next Richfield Village Council meeting is set for Jan. 21 at 6:30 p.m. at Town Hall, located at 4410 W. Streetsboro Road.