The former mayor of Newtown says his decision to resign before the end of his term was not influenced by a federal lawsuit filed by the village’s police chief.
Mark Kobasuk’s resignation went into effect June 30, leaving Vice Mayor Terry Fairley in charge of the quiet bedroom community of 2,702.
The end of Kobasuk’s tenure as mayor was under the cloud of a lawsuit by Newtown Police Chief Tom Synan, which alleged a “personal vendetta” by the mayor and retaliation for the chief refusing to permit conduct he believed was illegal. That lawsuit is ongoing in federal court in Cincinnati.
“Chief Synan’s lawsuit was not a factor in my decision to resign from my position as Mayor,” Kobasuk wrote in a July 1 statement emailed to The Enquirer.
“The allegations contained in Chief Synan’s lawsuit are highly inflammatory and were written with the intent of (eliciting) outrage from the residents of Newtown,” Kobasuk wrote. “I am confident as the lawsuit progresses that a true picture of the facts will be revealed.”
In his resignation letter, Kobasuk wrote that while he and his wife had planned to build a house on their Kentucky farm over the next several years, their plans changed when a property near the farm became available for purchase.
The lawsuit was initially filed in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court in March 2024 but was later removed to federal court. It claims the mayor engaged in a yearslong feud with Synan that resulted in a cycle of “relentless harassment, bullying, retaliation and defamation” by Kobasuk against the police chief.
Court filings state that Synan, a nationally renowned figure in the fight against the opioid crisis, came away from a February 2024 meeting with Kobasuk believing his firing to be imminent.
Attorneys representing Synan, the former mayor and the village have remained silent on how Kobasuk’s resignation might affect the ongoing litigation.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Former Newtown mayor says police chief’s lawsuit was ‘not a factor’ in decision to resign
Reporting by Quinlan Bentley, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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