Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Solon City Council authorized the mayor to hire Buckingham, Doolittle and Burroughs LLP to handle a lawsuit filed by former arts director Karen Prasser.
The city of Solon has hired a private law firm to handle Karen Prasser's lawsuit against the city and Mayor Susan Drucker. The law firm of Buckingham, Doolittle and Burroughs LLP will serve as special legal counsel for the Prasser lawsuit. City Council authorized the hiring of the firm last week. A letter from the law firm to Solon Law Director Tom Lobe indicates that the firm will charge Solon $250 per hour for work by parters, $195 per hour for work from associates and $95 per hour for work from the firm's paralegals. "Thank you for selecting us as your lawyers," reads the letter from Barry Y. Freeman, a partner in the firm. "We will justify the confidence you have shown in us." Prasser's lawsuit, filed Feb. 27 in Cuyahoga County Court …
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Discuss what you think about the lawsuit filed recently by the former director of the Solon Center for the Arts against the city.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Read the lawsuit filed by Karen Prasser against the city of Solon.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Karen Prasser, who resigned last year from her job as director of the Solon Center for the Arts, has filed a five-count lawsuit against Solon Mayor Susan Drucker and the City of Solon
Former Solon Center for the Arts Director Karen Prasser has filed a lawsuit against Solon Mayor Susan Drucker and the city, according to court records. The lawsuit, filed Feb. 27 in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, alleges that Prasser was subjected to age discrimination, defamation and other charges against Drucker and other city employees, including Human Resources Director Tom Cornhoff and Finance Director Dennis Kennedy. Prasser is represented by Caryn Groedel, a Solon attorney who handles employment law. Prasser seeks at least $25,000 in damages, payment of lost wages and any punitive damages the court awards her. Court records also show that Prasser has demanded a jury trial. We are working to get the lawsuit posted on the site…
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Solon Patch reviews its most-read stories of 2012.
Our top story of the year, both in terms of readership and discussion, was the announcement that the Solon Center for the Arts was under investigation. Have you heard there's something going on at the Solon Center for the Arts but don't know the details? Solon Patch has been reporting on the story, and has a number of articles that can get you caught up. The gist: Executive Director Karen Prasser resigned in early September. The next week, the city announced that they were investigating "irregularities" at the arts center under the city's new fraud policy. Let's be clear: It has not been confirmed that Prasser's resignation is linked to the investigation, and city officials aren't talking. Russell Schneider, an assistant recreation …
Friday, December 7, 2012
The editor of the Chagrin Solon Sun opines that Solon leaders have a dilemma on their hands about the Solon Center for the Arts investigation.
The editor of the Chagrin Solon Sun says in an editorial that the Solon city leaders have a dilemma on their hands in how they handle an investigation into irregularities at the Solon Center for the Arts. The editor writes: Upon reviewing the documentation provided by the city, it would seem if Prasser was guilty of anything, it would be excessive naivete. There were many procedural errors she committed because she did not realize she was doing anything wrong. The question facing Solon officials as this investigation continues is to determine to what extent Prasser should be punished for these errors. The newpaper editor goes on to ask that, if Prasser did not know the rules, why didn't city leaders teach her? "If Prasser truly did not …
For years, Karen Prasser's secretary helped manage the financial accounts for the non-profit Friends of the Solon Center for the Arts. It wasn't until May 2012 that city leaders put a stop to it.
From 2006 until her retirement in June 2012, Joan Long was secretary to Karen Prasser, the former director of the Solon Center for the Arts. During that time, Long also helped manage the books of the Friends of the Solon Center for the Arts, a private nonprofit group that fundraises for the arts center's programs. Long also received checks from Friends, which Prasser said were only for re-imbursements, according to city documents. That mix of public and private work by Long was not proper, city officials told Prasser in a May 2012 memo, and is now a key issue in the city's investigation of "irregularities" at the Solon Center for the Arts. (Read the memo attached at the right.) After that May memo, Long had to give up the Friends duties. …
Thursday, December 6, 2012
In a Solon Times article, Councilman Bill Russo suggests that the future of the Solon Center for the Arts may be in a new location.
Should the Solon Center for the Arts move to a different location? That possibility was suggested by Councilman Bill Russo in a Solon Times article about the city returning donations for the patio project planned by former arts director. At the end of the article, Russo mentioned: If the art center continues to expand, would we be better with another location to house everything? We were trying to utilize a building that was set up as a city hall for an art center. Depending on what happens as we move forward, there may be another location better suited for all the programs and everything we may try to do on a bigger scale. Until we get another director in there and have an overall plan for what we will do going forward, it’s just more …
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
A series of city memos, obtained by public records request, are a window into what happened before Karen Prasser resigned in September and before the city began its investigation.
Documents in Karen Prasser's personnel file reveal reasons for why she resigned as director the Solon Center for the Arts and shed light on the city's pending investigation under the fraud policy. Read the documents in the window above. The documents attached include: Some of the contents of the documents were first reported by the Chagrin Solon Sun. In May, Finance Director Dennis Kennedy sent Prasser a memo detailing his concern about the arts center's accounting practices with Friends of the Solon Center for the Arts, a non-profit that fundraises for the SCA but is not affiliated with the city. Prasser resigned in Sept. 6 and days later the city announced it was investigating the arts center for "irregularities" under the fraud policy. …
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Karen Prasser's two performance reviews on file in Solon City Hall, while not perfect, paint the picture of an employee who city leaders felt had reshaped the Solon Center for the Arts in a positive way.
UPDATE: Solon Patch has obtained a copy of another performance review for Karen Prasser. This review, conducted by Mayor Susan Drucker for Prasser's performance from January until December 2011, shows that as of early 2012 Prasser was viewed by the administration as an excellent employee who used her talents -- and the help of the Friends nonprofit group -- to take the Solon Center for the Arts to new heights. That was only a few months before Prasser came under scrutiny from city officials about her management of the center and the fact that Prasser's secretary was managing the books for a nonprofit group that fundraised for the center's programs. That sort of mingling of government and private money was against rules, according to a May …
J Miller
9:00 am on Tuesday, March 26, 2013
More expense incurred by our mayor that could have been avoided. Taxpayers foot the bill. Who wants to run for mayor? more ›