Appointment of City Law Director Still Up in the Air

After a round of interviews last Wednesday and Thursday, members of the city's Personnel and Safety Committee are now ready to present their thoughts about who should be the next North Canton law director.

But for now, they'll do that behind closed doors. Jeff Peters, Ward 2 councilman and chairman of the Personnel and Safety Committee, said the committee will make a presentation tonight to the rest of North Canton City Council, and that meeting will be at 6 p.m. in executive session.

The committee had narrowed a pool of 16 applicants down to five.

"It could go pretty quick. We may ask for another round of interviews. We may make an appointment. It’s possible we may add another name," Peters said.

The five in the running are:

• Stephan Babick of Cleveland, a senior associate attorney at Javitch, Block & Rathbone in Cleveland

• Rodney Baca of North Canton, a law partner at Schnars, Baca & Infantino in Canton

• Julie A. Bickis of North Canton, an associate attorney for Mazanec, Raskin & Ryder in Solon

• Judith Carlin of Hudson, an attorney for the Youngstown Metropolitan Housing Authority

• Donald Wylie of North Canton, a partner of Baker, Dublikar, Beck, Wiley & Matthews

"The interviews went well and all five are clearly qualified for the position — there was no question about that," Peters said. "And in our minds we had a couple that stood out, but at the end of the day, Council is looking for a specific skill set and demeanor. Personality really goes a long way."

The position will pay about $72,000 a year. The , who had been law director for about two and a half years. He announced his resignation after council expressed interest in transitioning from a part-time director of law to a full-time director of law. Nilges was not interested in the position.

Council President Jon Syder told North Canton Patch at the beginning of August that the most important quality in the applicants was their knowledge of municipal law.

"After that, we’re looking for someone we generally feel wants a future (in North Canton government). We don’t want someone who wants to move on in just two to three years,” Snyder said.

Right now, the .

in for a meeting of the whole.