ASHTABULA — Responding to the Ohio attorney general’s opinion that holding two elected public offices concurrently constitutes a conflict of interest, City Solicitor Michael Franklin resigned Friday from the Ashtabula Area City School Board. The resignation is effective immediately.

“This is a difficult choice for me; my service on the Board of Education has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life,” Franklin said. “I will continue to be an ardent supporter of our students, teachers, parents, administrators and staff.”

A local attorney, Franklin was serving on the school board when he beat former city solicitor Thomas Simon, who was running for re-election, last November. He was sworn in as city solicitor Nov. 30, 2007. Meanwhile he kept his seat on the school board. This decision has stirred controversy in the community, as well as with City Council.

At council’s request, Ashtabula County Prosecutor Thomas Sartini asked Ohio acting Attorney General Nancy H. Rogers about Franklin’s dual roles.

On Thursday, the attorney general said, “These two positions are incompatible.”

Ashtabula Area City Schools Superintendent Joseph Donatone said the school board will be charged with filling the vacancy by a majority of votes. That means three out of four remaining board members must agree on a new member. The vote must take place 10 to 30 days following the date the vacancy occurs (Oct. 3).

The person appointed to the school board must be a qualified elector living in the district. If the board fails to fill Franklin’s seat, the Probate Court of Ashtabula County shall fill the vacancy, Donatone said.

“I enjoyed working with Mr. Franklin,” Donatone said. “I always felt he had the best interest of the students in mind. I wish him well.”

Ward 3 Councilwoman Ericka Severino said Franklin didn’t have to resign from the school board. She believes he should have resigned from his job as city solicitor.

“He was ineligible to be city solicitor (on the day he took office) because he was already an elected official,” Severino said. “This resignation doesn’t make everything OK.”

Franklin said his analysis of the attorney general’s decision is that it’s problematic for Ashtabula, as well as for other charter cities across the state.

“The thrust of her opinion is that I cannot hold both the office of city solicitor and that of school board member because she believes the Revised Code requires the city solicitor to provide legal counsel to the school board,” Franklin said. “This is a 180-degree change in direction for that office.”

Franklin said the Attorney General's Office’s opinion has been consistent for 50 years: A law director of a charter municipality does not have to represent the board of education unless the charter of that city says so.

On Thursday, Rogers delivered the opinion that unless the charter prohibits it, the solicitor/law director provides the school board’s legal services.

“I am of course somewhat surprised that 50 years of precedent would be set aside so casually,” Franklin said. “Moreover, I am concerned that the City of Ashtabula and many other charter cities are now suddenly required to underwrite the cost of legal representation of school districts across the state. This ruling would apply equally to Conneaut and Geneva, for example.”

The Ashtabula Area City Schools Board of Education spends tens of thousands of dollars each year on legal assistance from several law firms.

Conneaut’s school board spends money on a private law firm, as well.

“The current staff of the Ashtabula City Solicitor's office is insufficient to take on the legal problems of an entity with almost three times the employees and nearly twice the annual budget of the city itself,” Franklin said. “A dramatic expansion of staff would be needed, and I fear this would have to be at the expense of the city, not the school board. The Revised Code clearly says a law director may not demand compensation from a school board for such services.”

The charter does not delegate such a duty on the city, and Franklin said he disagrees with the attorney general that silence somehow lends consent.

“But, if the Board of Education has access to free legal services, how can it decline those services and continue to pay outside counsel?” he said. “Would it not be open to claims of fiscal irresponsibility?”

In order to debate all this legal lingo as the city solicitor, Franklin would have to argue with the school board, and he said he can’t do that and remain on the board.

“As solicitor I do not intend to provide legal services to the board until and unless a court of competent jurisdiction says I must,” he said. “However, I cannot in good conscience take that position and remain on the board ... I must remain in the office where I feel I can accomplish the most good for the people who voted for me in both elections.”