Midvale, Ohio - Recent personnel changes have shaken things up inside Midvale Village Hall. 

Last week, members of the Midvale Village Council approved the resignation of Mayor Doug Cross effectively immediately and tapped him to replace Street Supervisor Jay Thorton, who’s set to retire from his position at the end of next week. 

Midvale Police Chief Brian Anderson gives an overview of the changes. 

“Doug Cross stepped down as mayor and accepted the street supervisor’s position. They said he’d start when Jay, our current supervisor, retires on the 23rd, I believe, of November, and Doug will start then,” he says.

Anderson says Council President Donna Kohler will serve as the acting mayor for the remainder of Cross’ term, which runs through the end of next year.

“Donna Kohler is council president, so she automatically steps up to the position until a new mayor is elected,” he says.

Anderson says that Cross had to submit his resignation before council could legally hire him as the new street supervisor.

Cross was elected last November and served 11 months in office, and Thorton had been with the city for seven years.

Anderson says Thorton did a great job and will be missed in the village. 

“I worked with Jay all the time. He did a lot for the town. If they needed something welded, he was able to weld it. He fixed a lot of things that really weren’t even in his job description but he helped them out quite a bit,” he says.

Thorton is also the mayor of Barnhill and says that his retirement from Midvale will give him more time to focus on developing a community park along Barnhill Road. 

“We got a piece of ground given to us by a person, and we’re going to build a park there. We’ve been working on it and looking for donations and stuff like that and trying to put a ball diamond in and a playground and there may be something else down the road. That’s probably what I’ll be doing most of the time,” he says. 

STACEY CARMANY, TUSCO TV