CLEVELAND, Ohio — After months of arguing over who handles what, Cuyahoga County’s prosecutor and law director have reached a tentative deal over how to divvy up legal duties, and it could go to voters in November for final approval.
Nothing in it would materially change the work the respective offices have performed since the creation of the county’s charter form of government. But it would formally outline the Law Department’s authority after an Ohio attorney general’s opinion concluded that the offices could no longer rely on memorandums of understanding to divide their duties as they had for more than a decade.
The parties rejected three prior versions of the charter amendment earlier this year, arguing over language they believed favored one office over the other. The dispute culminated in a bitter email exchange in which Prosecutor Michael O’Malley accused Executive Chris Ronayne’s administration and law department of acting in an “underhanded and dishonorable way.”…