Mantua Village Council fires police chief, agreeing with mayor’s allegations

After an all-night hearing, Mantua Village Council voted in the early hours of Oct. 22 to oust Police Chief Joe Urso, who has headed the department since November 2017.

The hearing lasted 11 hours and concluded at 6 a.m. with a vote of 5-1 to fire the police chief. Kevin Maloney cast the dissenting vote.

Urso and his attorney Eric Fink declined to comment after the hearing.

In an Oct. 7 memo to council members, Mantua Mayor Tammy Meyer alleged that Urso had not, as directed, empowered Mantua Police Department sergeants to “effectively and fully supervise” officer Miranda Brothers, with whom he has a personal relationship.

An investigation that ended in 2023 concluded that Urso was involved in a romantic relationship with Brothers, though the two denied the claim. Both Urso and Brothers declined to characterize the current nature of their relationship.

The investigator, Aurora Law Director Dean DePiero, concluded that nothing in state law or village policies prohibits personal relationships among staff. He did conclude, though, that the MPD’s policy manual forbids employees from directly supervising a person they are dating.

The MPD manual actually advises employees to “make an effort” from directly supervising someone with whom they are involved and to “make every reasonable effort” to place the subordinate under another’s supervision.

Specifically, Urso was forbidden from scheduling Brothers, arranging or approving her time off and vacation, or conducting performance evaluations, transfers or other personnel decisions.

In a section added to its employee handbook on July 20, 2023, the Village of Mantua states that it does not prohibit people related by blood, marriage, romantic involvement or general influence from working together. 

It specifies that employees must “guard against relationships which might be construed as evidence of favoritism, coercion, unfair advantage, or collusion.” 

The handbook states that careful consideration must be given when employing such people “to prevent inappropriate working relationships from arising in the workplace, to maintain the objectivity of supervising, to avoid situations where potential conflicts of interest could occur, and to prevent the appearance of impropriety to the public.”

Urso, Meyer stated, continued to violate village policy and was also the source of ongoing operational and leadership issues. Her memo to council stated that Urso was issued a verbal warning “on or about” April 18, 2023, regarding violations of the MPD’s nepotism policy and was told to remove himself from directly supervising Brothers, including scheduling, assignments, discipline and approval of leave.

The memo also stated that she initially assumed those duties herself and issued Urso a written warning on March 18, 2024, “as he was continually intervening in my supervisory authority over Officer Brothers.” Meyer stated that Urso’s behavior continued after December 2024, when council switched Brothers’ supervision to MPD sergeants.

Meyer alleged in the memo that Urso’s acts constituted neglect of duty, insubordination and malfeasance — the last charge being rooted in “improperly exercising supervisory authority in violation of the established nepotism policy and the direction given to him.”

Also at play were two sworn affidavits, one signed by former MPD officer Anthony Vicich, who was employed as a school resource officer for Crestwood Local Schools for the 2024-2025 school year.

He wrote that he neither received required training nor support from Urso despite asking repeatedly.

“I believe the Chief set me up to fail in order to push his girlfriend, Officer Brothers, to replace me as SRO,” he wrote, later accusing his former boss of “favoritism and disparate treatment” when Urso passed him over for open positions.

He also alleged that Urso repeatedly intervened “if Officer Brothers was going to be disciplined,” and, supporting allegations Meyer raised, stated that he had seen children and dogs in sensitive parts of the police station.

Vicich stated that he resigned from the department because of Urso. He described the work environment as “not healthy” and “toxic,” alleged that MPD is operated unprofessionally and voiced his doubt that Urso can be impartial “when it comes to Officer Brothers.”

A second affidavit was signed by Crestwood Local Schools Superintendent Aireane Curtis, who stated that both Brothers and Vicich pulled SRO shifts at district schools.

Curtis’ affidavit stated that she “received correspondence from parents and the community expressing concern about Officer Brothers, stating that Officer Brothers is not safe around kids and they did not want her around their kids.”

The Portager requested a copy of the correspondence, but did not receive a response by press time.

Brothers did not align with the district’s goals, Curtis stated. She repeated several allegations Vicich made in his affidavit, including that by pushing for Brothers to fill the SRO position, Urso “expressed favoritism.”

Curtis wrote that when she told Urso the district had the final say as to filling the SRO position, “the Chief became frustrated, his face and neck turned red, and he left.”

She stated that she’d told the Board of Education that if MPD “cannot present a quality candidate,” by which she made clear did not include Brothers, she would rather go without an SRO.

In a Facebook post, which she later confirmed to The Portager, Brothers took issue with one of Curtis’ allegations.

“That is by far one of the most disturbing and untrue statements ever made about me,” she wrote. “Let’s be honest… ‘parents’? There was one. And that individual, whom I’m well aware of, has a history with this drama and is in no position to pass judgment on anyone.”

Urso told The Portager he’d arrived at the mayor’s office Oct. 6 for his usual Monday meeting with Meyer and was surprised to see village Solicitor William Mason and Hiram Police Chief James Clemens already in the room. Being informed that he was being placed on paid administrative leave came as a total surprise, he said.

Clemens is overseeing Mantua’s police force in Urso’s absence. Council unanimously approved Meyer’s motion that he be appointed as acting chief retroactive to Oct. 6.