By Gary Ogle
gogle@wbcowqel.com
In a brief ceremony witnessed by his parents, Clayton Herold was sworn in Tuesday morning as Crestline’s latest mayor by Crawford County Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold.
Herold, the Crestline Village Council’s president pro tem, replaces Gloria McDonald as mayor. McDonald resigned the office effective May 31 citing health concerns.
Herold is in his tenth year on the Crestline council. He will only be mayor until the village elects someone in the November General Election to serve out the remainder of McDonald’s four-year term which runs through 2019.
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The 35-year-old Herold said his name would not be on the November ballot.
“Actually, this is going to be my last year in public office,” Herold said. “I think it’s a great way to put a capstone on my public career.”
Herold did say that there is some village business that needs immediate attention during his short tenure as mayor.
“We need a fire chief and we need to hire a couple of more firefighters,” Herold said.
The Crestline Village Council has not officially accepted McDonald’s resignation which was tendered in a letter dated May 18. County Prosecutor Matthew Crall stated the county’s Board of Elections cannot begin proceedings for the election for someone to complete McDonald’s term until her resignation is accepted.
Crestline Village Council is next scheduled to meet in regular session on June 19.
According to the Ohio Revised Code, the county committees for each political party may select a candidate to run for that office after being certified. Independent candidates may get on the ballot by submitting a petition with at least 25 valid signatures of registered voters living within Crestline village limits. Those petitions must be filed by Sept.18 in order to be considered and validated by the Crawford County Board of Elections.