Politics & Government

More than 20 People Seeking Council Seat

Replacement will fill Pat Coyne's unexpired term

At least 23 people are seeking to be appointed to the at-large City Council  seat vacated by Pat Coyne.

By mid-afternoon Friday, with less that two hours left before the deadline, 23 people had turned in applications to fill the post until the end of 2013.

The names of all the applicants were not available late Friday. Strongsville Patch will publish the complete list on Tuesday.

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The remaining council members are expected to conduct 15-minute interviews of each applicant. 

Law Director Ken Kraus said council has until June 15 to appoint a new representative. If members don't appoint by then, the duty falls to Mayor Tom Perciak.

Find out what's happening in Strongsvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Coyne abruptly May 6, three days before he was arrested by the FBI on a . He was implicated last September in a bribery case involving Hinckley developer David Terry as part of the ongoing corruption probe in Cuyahoga County.

Coyne appeared in U.S. District Court May 9 and was placed on house arrest. He was released on $50,000 bond.

His attorney, Craig Weintraub, said Coyne will plead not guilty to the charge.

An affidavit from at FBI agent filed in federal court alleges Coyne approached Terry in early 2008 and asked for money. Terry, who has already pleaded guilty to bribing Coyne, told the FBI he gave Coyne four separate checks for $5,000 each, made out to four different accounts with Coyne's home address.

Three were the Strongsville Democratic Club, Citizens for Pat Coyne and Strongsville Wildcat Baseball.

The affidavit says National City Bank later drew on those funds to issue a check for $15,000 to Smuggler's Bay Point, a development in Marblehead. That check was used toward the purchase of a condo for Coyne, the document says.


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