Former Toledo Councilman George Sarantou launched a potential campaign for mayor or Toledo councilman Tuesday, drawing an attack from the Democratic Party for his past service as city finance director.
Mr. Sarantou, 69, a Republican, pulled signature petition forms from the Lucas County Board of Elections to run for one of those two seats. He said he will gauge his viability for either one of the council’s six at-large seats or mayor by collecting signatures for both. The filing deadline is July 16.
The Lucas County Democratic Party recalled the controversy over the city’s alleged lack of awareness of an $8.2 million city fund that led to Mr. Sarantou resigning as city finance director.
“Toledoans should think twice before returning someone with a history of financial mismanagement back to City Hall. Remember, George’s tenure as Toledo’s Finance Director was a disaster. He resigned in disgrace after $8.2 million sat idle in city coffers without any clear explanation,” Democratic Chairman Michael Ashford said in a statement issued Tuesday.
Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, the endorsed Democrat, is seeking election to a second four-year term.
“Democrats have a record of good fiscal management, investing in the things that matter to Toledo’s working families. We need Democratic leadership on City Council and in the Mayor’s office this year, not the failed Republican leadership of the party of [former President Donald] Trump — like George,” Mr. Ashford said.
The city fund that had sat unused since 2011 was an issue raised by Mr. Kapszukiewicz in his 2017 campaign against then-incumbent Democratic Mayor Paula Hicks-Hudson.
Mr. Sarantou said it was he and the city auditor who discovered the money after not being advised of its existence by the previous administration of Mayor Mike Bell. The finding was reported to the city’s outside auditor and the state auditor, he said.
“It was corrected with the blessing of the state auditor. There was never any money missing. We discovered it, we fixed it and now we’re being blamed when we corrected the issue.” he said.
Mr. Sarantou said he was interested in returning to city politics because of issues involving council and city finances. He cited the ongoing FBI investigation into the Summit Street reconstruction project, and council’s consideration of holding only one meeting in July and one in August.
“We have important issues we have to deal with. We’ve got council referrals not being answered, an example being Councilman [Rob] Ludeman on the Summit Street project. Almost a year has gone by since Mr. Ludeman made that referral,” Mr. Sarantou said. He said he was referring to Mr. Ludeman’s question to the administration on Aug 1, 2020, about whether the city was paying for the relocation of utilities in connection with the Summit Street project.
He also expressed disagreement with council limiting its meetings from every other week to once a month in July and August when so many questions need to be dealt with, including how the $180 million in federal pandemic aid funds would be spent.
Mr. Sarantou served 12 years on council, including 11 years as chairman of the finance committee. He was appointed finance director in 2014 under the late Toledo Mayor D. Michael Collins and remained in the job under Mayor Hicks-Hudson until he resigned in August, 2017.
Mr. Sarantou then worked almost three years as Lucas County Probate Court administrator until he was laid off in October in financial cutbacks he said were brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. Mr. Sarantou lost bids for Lucas County Board of Commissioners in 2006 and 2010 and for Lucas County recorder in 2012.
First Published June 8, 2021, 7:46 p.m.
