Akron Councilman Bob Hoch pleaded guilty on Tuesday to three misdemeanor charges of conflict of interest.
Summit County Common Pleas Judge Amy Corrigall Jones advised Hoch he could face jail time, probation or community service. He will undergo a pre-sentence investigation and then return to court at 1 p.m. Feb. 21 for sentencing.
In a written statement he read to the court following his plea, Hoch, a Democrat, said he didn’t know he was acting unethically when he voted on raises and union matters for the Akron Fire Department, where two of his sons work.
“I can only say that at the time of the violation, I was new to the role as a city councilman and I am not a lawyer,” he said. “I do not have a legal background and I could not see the connections between my actions, my family relationships and the legal concept of a conflict of interest.”
Hoch, who was elected as Ward 6 councilman, serving the Ellet area, in 2011 and re-elected in 2015, admitted his actions but did not explicitly apologize in his statement.
“I advocated for the city to approve Fire Department collective bargaining agreements and for the city to conclude a lawsuit involving Fire Department promotions, when both of my sons — as firefighters and members of the union’s bargaining committee — would directly benefit from the contracts and lawsuit solution that I advocated and approved,” he said.
Hoch’s guilty plea does not preclude him from serving on the city council, because the charges are misdemeanors. If he’d been charged with felonies, state and local laws would forbid him from serving in an elected position.
He said his improved understanding of conflict of interest laws would guide him as he continues to serve as a councilman.
“I have a better understanding of what issues I should abstain from discussing and voting on,” he said, “and I will be more careful in the future.”
Hoch, 67, a retired Acme manager, was charged in December in response to a complaint filed with the Ohio Ethics Commission by former Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic. Hoch and Plusquellic publicly squabbled over the filing of the ethics complaint.
“He has been told over and over again that he has a conflict of interest, but he continues to interject himself inappropriately — and possibly illegally,” former city spokeswoman Stephanie York told the Beacon Journal in March 2015.
The bill of information charging Hoch with misdemeanors listed his violations as happening on June 25, 2012; Nov. 26, 2012; and between March 27, 2014, and Nov. 24, 2015.
Tuesday’s hearing in court was set to be an arraignment, in which Hoch was expected to plead not guilty at the start of court proceedings. Instead, Hoch pleaded guilty.
Hoch also figured prominently in Plusquellic’s unexpected resignation in May 2015.
Plusquellic had ordered the police chief to tell Hoch not to attend his annual State of the City speech in March, with York saying that Hoch had made threatening statements to the mayor during council meetings.
In a letter released to the media, Plusquellic sharply attacked the Beacon Journal’s coverage of his quarrel with Hoch and cited it as a reason for exiting the mayor’s office after 28 years.
Nick Glunt can be reached at 330-996-3565 or nglunt@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGluntABJ .