One judicial vacancy has been filled and another created.
Gov. John Kasich has appointed Barberton Municipal Court Jill Flagg Lanzinger to a Summit County Common Pleas Court opening. The Summit County Republican Party will now need to recommend candidates to Kasich to replace Lanzinger on the Barberton bench.
Lanzinger’s appointment and the new vacancy it created are the latest in a complicated judicial shuffling in Summit County caused by several judges assuming other posts.
Kasich hasn’t filled a second opening in Summit County Common Pleas Court to replace Judge Lynne Callahan, who was elected to the Ninth District Court of Appeals in November.
“We are still in the process on that one,” said Emmalee Kalmbach, a spokeswoman for Kasich.
Lanzinger, who was appointed a Barberton judge in February 2015, will assume her new post April 3. She must run in November 2018 to retain the seat for a full term. She replaces Judge Tom Teodosio, who, like Callahan, was elected to the Ninth District Court of Appeals.
Visiting judges are handling Teodosio and Callahan’s dockets until their replacements take over.
Lanzinger and Todd McKenney filed to run for Barberton judge this year. McKenney left the Barberton bench when he was elected in 2014 to Summit County Common Pleas Court, but lost his Summit County post in the November election. He will now be the lone GOP candidate for Barberton judge in the upcoming election this November in which he will face Margaret Scott, a Democrat and the chief assistant Summit County prosecutor.
Lanzinger replaced McKenney in Barberton court when he moved to Summit County Common Pleas Court.
Lanzinger received her bachelor’s degree from Heidelberg University and her law degree from the University of Akron. She is a member of the Akron Bar Association, city of Green Opiate Task Force and a board member of the Portage Lakes Advisory Council. She is related by marriage to former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at 330-996-3705, swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj . Beacon Journal reporter Rick Armon contributed to this report.