Mayfield Heights City Council Vacancy Interviews Underway

Mayfield City Council members interviewed two candidates this week for the vacant seat the city will soon fill.

Council interviewed Realtor Susan Sabetta and Mike Ballistrea, the manager of Hillcrest Hospital's Nuclear Medicine and PET Imaging department, following the regular council meeting Monday, according to a Sun News report. The candidates have lived in the city for 32 and 33 years, respectively.

The candidates are among a pool of six vying to hold the seat until December 31. Council will make an appointment to fill the vacancy before March 18. Because this unexpired term runs through December 31, 2015, an election to fill the vacancy must be held at the next municipal election on November 5, according to the Charter of the City of Mayfield Heights.

Council interviewed the applicants for 20 minutes each.

Ballistrea served on council from 1998 to 2008 and was council president from 2006 to 2011. Sabetta's family has lived in the city for four generations.

The other applicants — Wayne Farinacci, Marty Kelbel, Jeff Likover and Benjamin Stocum — will be interviewed in the near future.

The vacancy on Council was created when Council President Anthony DiCicco became city mayor after the previous mayor, Gregory Costabile, who resigned in a plea agreement with Cuyahoga County prosecutors in response to an investigation on the money he received from two firms who did business with the city.