Clough cleared of nepotism
By Kevin Kelley
Westlake
Published Oct. 25, 2006

Mayor Dennis Clough

Mayor Dennis Clough broke no laws in connection with the employment of five of his relatives at the Rocky River Wastewater Treatment Plant, the county prosecutor said Friday.

“Based on evidence presented, we were unable to prove any wrongdoing,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason said through a spokesperson. “The case is closed. If this office receives any new information, we will review it at that time.”

A year ago, The Plain Dealer reported five relatives of Clough and two relatives of then-Rocky River Mayor William Knoble were employed at the Rocky River Wastewater Treatment Plant. Clough and Knoble serve on the plant’s management board. Employees of the plant are technically employees of the city of Rocky River.

Clough learned Mason’s investigation of the matter had been closed not from the prosecutor’s office, but from Channel 3 News senior political reporter Tom Beres.

“Obviously, it’s good news,” Clough told West Life. “The good thing is the facts don’t change.”

Clough repeated that, as a member of the plant’s management board, he never had any authority over hiring Rocky River employees.

“The conclusion was as it should have been,” said Clough, adding that he has appreciated the support he has received from the community throughout the investigation.

Clough said he recused himself from the plant management board on Oct. 5, 2006, and appointed Finance Director Anne Fritz as Westlake’s representative on that body. That action was not done with any standing that the prosecutor was about to close his investigation, Clough said.

“The reason I did it was to avoid the appearance of any conflict,” he said.

At the time The Plain Dealer article was published, Clough was in the middle of a heated campaign for re-election against Westlake school board member Joe O’Malley. The mayor was elected to a sixth consecutive term in the Nov. 8 election, defeating O’Malley 72 percent to 28 percent.

At the time, Clough told West Life he believed the article was politically motivated. He also said it was not inappropriate for him to be used as a reference for a relative.

Clough previously noted his family members grew up in Rocky River and have the same right to serve the residents of that city as he does the residents of Westlake.

“They all went through an interview process, and I didn’t do the hiring,” Clough said last October. “I wouldn’t recommend someone who couldn’t do a job.

“If people can do the job, they ought to have the same consideration and they shouldn’t be excluded.”

This spring, the Ohio Ethics Commission recommended that charges be filed against Clough and Knoble following an investigation by the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s office.

In May, Knoble was indicted on two misdemeanor counts of improper use of a public office. In a deal with Mason’s office, Knoble pleaded guilty in June and resigned as mayor. Knoble ended up paying a $500 fine and made a single visit with a probation officer. As part of the plea deal, Knoble’s relatives resigned from their jobs at the plant.

According to an Ohio Ethics Commission publication, Ohio law prohibits officials from hiring family members; however, ethics laws do not prohibit family members from being employed by the same public agency as an official as long as the official has not secured or authorized the job for the relative.

A public official also is generally not prohibited from approving a union contract when a relative is a member of the union, according to the Ohio Ethics Commission.