Just days after stating he would not step down before the November election, interim Akron Mayor Garry Moneypenny has announced his resignation.

Moneypenny admitted on Friday, June 5, to inappropriately touching a city employee before being sworn in. Upon reflection, he now believes he will not be able to operate effectively for the next seven months and it is not in the citizens’ best interests for him to stay on as interim mayor.

His resignation is effective at midnight on Wednesday, June 10, 2015.

Just days after being sworn in to office, interim Akron Mayor Garry Moneypenny announced he will not be seeking election this fall after admitting to an inappropriate encounter with a city employee. In his last week as president of City Council, he crossed a professional boundary during a good-bye hug when the employee came to wish him well in his transition to mayor.

In a statement made Friday, June 5, Moneypenny apologized to the citizens of Akron and acknowledged the incident calls into question his character and trustworthiness.

Moneypenny became Akron’s 60th mayor on Sunday, May 31, in the wake of the resignation of long-term mayor Don Plusquellic.

Here is our summer calendar. If you are attending any of the coming events, please stop by and say hello!

June 4-6, 2015   NCSL Executive Committee Spring Meeting, Denver, Colorado

June 8-10, 2015   US Small Business Summit, Washington, DC

June 15-18, 2015   BIO International Convention, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

June 19-23, 2015   US Conference of Mayors Annual Conference, San Francisco, California

July 12-15, 2015    CSG MLC Annual Meeting, Bismarck, North Dakota

July 23-26, 2015   NGA Summer Meeting, Greenbrier, West Virginia

August 4, 2015   Astellas National Women’s Executive Day, Akron, Ohio

August 3-7, 2015   NCSL Legislative Summit, Seattle, Washington

After decades in office, Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic has announced he is resigning his position.

In a letter to the citizens of Akron, he expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve and wished only the best for the community’s future.

Plusquellic’s resignation is effective at midnight on May 31.

State and Federal Communications is proud to be a sponsor of the WKSU John Hockenberry event, which is coming to Akron and Kent on May 7! The award-winning journalist and host of The Takeaway will be appearing at WKSU for the morning broadcast of the radio program and at the Actors’ Summit in Akron at 7:30 p.m.

Gerald Craig, Executive Director of the Summit County Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental Health (ADM) Services Board stopped by to thank Elizabeth Bartz for being a sponsor of the 2015 ADM Recovery Challenge. State and Federal Communications is proud to contribute to the ADM Board, and we support their dedicated efforts to those individuals most in need in Summit County.

The 3rd ADM Recovery Challenge obstacle-course 5K will be on May 16, 2015, at IBH Addiction Recovery Center in Akron.

Elizabeth Bartz, President and CEO of State and Federal Communications offers her congratulations to Bob Kulinski, United Way of Summit County President and CEO as he wraps up 15 amazing years of service. Thank you, Bob for all you have done for Akron and Summit County!

Professor Wilson Huhn [kneeling on the right] from the University of Akron School of Law presented a one hour CLE about Abraham Lincoln’s influence on the interpretation of the Constitution.

State and Federal Communications had a team of 10 attending the Council on Governmental Ethics Laws (COGEL) 36th Annual Conference. It was held from December 7-10 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the beautiful OMNI William Penn Hotel. COGEL always offers great sessions concerning lobbying, campaign finance, governmental ethics, and election laws and best practices. It was good to see many familiar faces and meet new members.

In December we gathered together at Flemings in Akron for our annual holiday party. We had a relaxing night with good food and time to talk to each other. The staff presented Elizabeth with their gift to her – a pair of tickets to see Jay Leno and dinner beforehand at District. Elizabeth also presented the winner of the door decorating contest and gave each employee Akron’s famous TEMOs chocolate tree to enjoy.

State and Federal Communications is thrilled to work in Akron and we recognize that we have a responsibility to reach out to the community around us. For this holiday season, our Giving Tree donations have gone to the CORE Furniture Bank in Cuyahoga Falls.

CORE is an amazing organization that assists families in need with furniture and housewares, so we collected sheets, blankets and pillows.

Many agencies in Summit County partner with CORE, including Summit County Children Services, the Veterans Administration, Haven of Rest Ministries, Battered Women’s Shelter, Oriana House, OPEN M, and Springtime of Hope.

Happy Holidays to the CORE Furniture Bank, and thank you for all of the work you do to help our community!

On Monday, December 15, Akron City Council voted 8-4 to raise campaign contribution limits for mayoral and council candidates. All limits will increase by $100.

Candidates for mayor and at-large council will be permitted to accept $750 per election and ward council candidates will be permitted to accept $500 per election. The city charter requires council to review the contribution limits every two years.

The new limits come just in time for next year’s election as all council seats as well as the mayoral seat will be on the ballot.

On Monday, the Akron City Council rules committee voted to wait to make changes to the city’s campaign contribution limits.

Council President Gary Moneypenny’s proposal would have increased the limits for mayoral and council candidates by $100.

Former Councilman Warner Mendenhall, who promoted a petition for the original contribution limits in 1998, protested the proposed changes during the afternoon committee meeting.

The Akron City Council is considering legislation to increase campaign finance limits for mayoral and council candidates. Limits for mayor and at-large council candidates would increase to $750 and the limit for ward council candidates would increase to $500.

The council is waiting to take action on the legislation until after public hearings have been held. Hearings will take place at the Rules Committee meeting and at the regular council meeting later today.

The 10 ward council seats, the three at-large council seats, and the mayoral seat will all be on the 2015 election ballot.

Elizabeth Bartz has been named one of the 2014 Women of Power by the Akron Urban League at their Fourth Annual Awards Luncheon.

The organization says: “Women of Power Awards are granted to women who have made a difference in the organizations where they work and also to the community at-large.  Award nominees can be of any age or level in their careers, they might be well known in the community or unsung heroes, but they are women who are committed to making a difference and giving back.”

Congratulations, Elizabeth!