SHADYSIDE — The most recent Shadyside Village Council meeting provided a forum for two mayoral candidates to go head to head.

Councilman Mike Meintel and former council member Nick Ferrelli both filed to run for mayor in the Nov. 4 election, according to the Belmont County Board of Elections.

Ferrelli stepped down in 2023 after serving six years on council. His reason for resigning wasn’t made public at the time, but in April he was charged with menacing by stalking a village employee, and Police Chief Don Collette made it known that was the reason for Ferrelli’s resignation.

During Monday’s council meeting that Ferrelli attended, Meintel said that although he previously decided not to waste his breath speaking to or about Ferrelli, he said he believed he had to speak to council about a recent interaction the pair had.

“In regards to one of the records requests that we received this week, I swore to myself that I wasn’t going to give Mr. Ferrelli any more of my oxygen, but he mentioned my name in this last request. And what had happened was my grandson was baptized on June 7 and prior to that, my wife and I called the village to see if we could rent some chairs down here in case of rain, and (secretary) Betty (Snyder) told us that it would be all right,” he said.

He said the village has allowed residents to borrow chairs for as long as he can remember.

“So Betty allowed us to borrow 20 chairs, and I came up here on Friday to pick up the chairs. I went to Betty, and I said, ‘Is there anything I need to sign?’ And she said no so I said, ‘Let’s draw up a receipt for those chairs.’ So we drew up a simple receipt that just said Mike Meintel is going to borrow 20 chairs and return them on this day. I was loading the chairs up in my truck, and my ‘prison radar’ kicked in. It felt like somebody was watching me. I turned around and in the southbound lane, Mr. Ferrelli was taking pictures of me.”

Meintel added that after he took the chairs to his house, he saw Ferrelli turn into a driveway three houses down from his home. He said that the point of his telling council is that he believes that borrowing the chairs was not an issue.

Meintel said another frustrating part of this interaction is that when Ferrelli was on council, he actually helped Meintel load up his truck with chairs he borrowed from the village.

Meintel’s comments garnered a minor reaction from Ferrelli, who was in the audience. Under his breath, Ferrelli denied ever helping Meintel.

“You know that’s his gig, but I’m just making it pretty clear to council, and to Mr. Ferrelli sitting back there, that my family is not going to be intimidated by him,” Meintel said.

St. Clairsville resident Gregg Warren was also present at the meeting and showed support for Ferrelli.

“Your handbook says you can’t use those chairs. Read the handbook. Ohio Revised Code also says that you run a risk. Look it up. (Village Law Director) Kelly (Kotur), you run a risk of lending out equipment. It’s something as minor as a chair. What if someone has fun dancing on a chair and that chair breaks? Who’s liable? That’s your insurance,” Warren said.

Assistant Police Chief Jeff Loeffler then told Warren that his outburst would not be allowed. Warren responded that only Mayor Robert Newhart has the authority to decide whether he has the permission to speak during the meeting, and Newhart didn’t object.

Councilwoman Melanie Haswell made the suggestion that at the next council meeting at 6 p.m. July 28, council should create a formal resolution outlining a specific policy for residents borrowing chairs from the village.

Kotur agreed that it would be in the best interest of the village to adopt a resolution so that a situation like this never happens again.

Haswell also said she doesn’t see a problem with Meintel borrowing the chairs because residents have done it for practically her entire life.

“He’s accusing him of menacing or stalking, and he was taking a picture of something that he thought was not right. What’s wrong with that? If I saw something I thought was not right, I’d take a picture. That’s his right, he can take a picture,” Warren said of Ferrelli, who then spoke out.

“Why is this village doing any of the nonsense it’s done for the last year and a half? It’s been nothing but personal attacks and nonsense for a year and a half. Let’s bring an end to it. Let’s all act like civilized adults and do what’s best for Shadyside, not what’s best for our personal egos. Let’s all work together like civilized human adults. That’s all I got to say,” Ferrelli said.

All parties involved agreed that cooler heads needed to prevail.

“My interpretation of the employee handbook is that it’s a provision where employees can’t use village property for their own personal benefit, which I would interpret as like a backhoe to excavate my backyard,” Kotur said. “I see this kind of as something a little different, kind of like a benefit to village residents or maybe organizations in the village. But I think it would probably be good to have something in writing, specifying, so it’s clear.”

In a phone interview following the meeting, Ferrelli restated that he believes that the fighting and arguing needs to end.

“This is just petty nonsense that has been going on for over a year and a half. Since before I left council, there has been a war orchestrated by a couple of officials and employees,” he said. “When I resigned from council, they apparently thought that meant that I was going to go away and stay out of the politics of the village of Shadyside forever. That’s not going to happen, and they haven’t been happy with that.

“So they’ve been doing everything in their power to keep me away,” Ferrelli added. “They’ve pulled all kinds of stuff that has no place in village politics. It has no place anywhere. The whole thing (taking pictures of Meintel borrowing chairs from the village), is it petty? Of course it’s petty. Everything that these people have been doing is petty. I’m not going away and these people, at least most of them, aren’t going away either. So we have got to find a way to get along and do what’s best for the village of Shadyside.”

Meintel echoed Ferrelli’s comments saying that he believes the pettiness needs to end.

“If he beats me in this mayoral race, I will shake his hand,” Meintel said. “I will congratulate him and wish him good luck. The voters have to speak.”