Jeremy McIntire Fails to Hold Himself Accountable
- Angie Charles
- Oct 25
- 7 min read
Updated: Oct 27
Campaign literature falsehoods, donations from embezzler should disqualify McIntire for re-election
NOTE: This is Part 2 of a four-article package about this year’s City Council elections. See links to other pieces at the end of this article.
Can a sitting councilperson be trusted with making our local government accountable and transparent when his own actions and statements lack truthfulness, accountability, and transparency?
Stow Councilman At-Large Jeremy McIntire thinks that yes, voters should trust him on those counts and, yet, his campaign literature runs counter to history, facts and common sense.
On campaign literature mailed to Stow residents recently, McIntire touts his efforts on the city’s SKiP playground, and the new senior and community center. But is it true? McIntire wants voters to give him credit for city accomplishments that he either didn’t support, actively delayed or was not involved in their fruition.
Some examples:
SKiP Playground
The history is clear here, which was documented by this site in 2023. McIntire was one of several council members who in 2021 refused to allow the use of city funds for the rebuilding of SKiP park and actively interfered with the mayor’s efforts to secure donations. The tug-of-war over who should control the planning process for the park wasted much time over many months and included McIntire trying to legislate a to-do list for the mayor (which failed).
Ultimately, it took six years to rebuild the park, entirely with donated funds secured by the mayor.
McIntire’s claim that he “was a champion for the rebirth of SKiP playground” is false.
Senior & Community Center
Again, McIntire was not a “champion” of the senior and community center. The deal was put together by the administration and there is no record of prior statements by McIntire that the city should find a larger facility for senior programming. He and Ward 4 Councilman Mario Fiocca twice voted to prevent the legislation needed to allow the city to execute the sales contract from proceeding.
Although they ultimately voted to approve the acquisition of the former Cornerstone Church (because voting No would have been unpopular and they were outnumbered), the one-month delay they caused required the city to increase its purchase price.
See prior articles that covered this issue:
New Senior Center Contingent on City Council Approval – Jan. 8, 2024
Church Deal Not Complete – Jan. 14, 2024
Senior Center Approved – Jan. 28, 2024
McIntire’s claim that he “was a champion of the new senior and community center” is false.
A Safer Stow
In his campaign literature, McIntire touts his support for first responders with the support they need to keep us safe. But, in key votes on city safety matters, McIntire pushed back on or stalled efforts on two new programs.
McIntire and Fiocca voted against an effort to pass legislation for retired police officers to be hired back to work as School Resource Officers in time for the program to begin at the start of the school year. The legislation, introduced on July 10, 2025, was rejected for a vote on Aug. 7 by McIntire and Fiocca. They joined the rest of council in approving the program on Sept. 11, more than a month later.
He was the sole vote in 2023 against using funds the city had obtained from a state opioid lawsuit settlement to hire a drug prevention counselor for the city’s youth. The initiative passed anyway and in a discussion of the program’s renewal at the Sept. 11, 2025, City Council meeting, Police Chief Film credited the program with helping 91 students in its first two years. McIntire joined the rest of council in renewing the program for a second two-year term.
Regional Dispatch Center
Another prime example of McIntire’s efforts to work against the administration was in his long-standing objections to the city joining the Regional Dispatch Center in Tallmadge, which combined dispatch operations for 11 community police departments and 8 fire departments. The center opened in October 2023 at a cost of $11.2 million, of which Stow contributed approximately $1 million.
City officials first joined discussions for a regional dispatch center in 2016. Four years later, in July 2020, Summit County purchased the former Weaver Workshop building on Route 91 in Tallmadge and proceeded with plans to form a Council of Governments (COG) that would oversee the site’s development and operations. At that time, it was noted that Stow would not commit to joining the COG until the city had voted on it through a charter amendment.
Stow voters approved that charter amendment to join the COG in Nov. 2020 by a large 58%-42% margin.
McIntire, who was Vice President of Council in 2020-21 and President in 2022-23, and former Ward 2 Councilwoman Sindi Harrison, who was President of Council in 2020-21 and Vice President in 2022-23 (and now is running again in Ward 2), continued council discussions on whether to approve the city joining the COG even after voters overwhelmingly approved it in a charter amendment in 2020.
Discussion for the dispatch center appeared on council’s agenda 9 times in 2021 and 2022 before council ultimately approved it on January 27, 2022. Had council not approved the plan at that meeting, the city would have lost the opportunity to be a founding member with voting rights.
Despite all the information and input McIntire acknowledged having gotten, and endorsement of the proposal from the police and fire chiefs, dispatchers, administration and the public, he viewed joining the regional dispatch center as a zero-sum game, with Stow being on the losing end. He ultimately voted to approve it at the Jan. 27, 2022 meeting, along with five other members of council. Ward 3 Councilman Brian Lowdermilk voted against the COG (he lost his re-election bid in 2023 to John Baranek).
Since its opening, several additional improvements to the dispatch center’s operations have been made that the city likely would not have been able to afford on its own, including:
McIntire’s claim to always back first responders with funding, equipment and support is not true.
Personal Accountability
McIntire touts a record during his six years in office of holding the City of Stow accountable financially. But, too often, his votes are more about his trying to exert control over the administration, rather than acting in what’s in the best interest of Stow residents.
For example:
He delayed approval for the new senior and community center, which nullified the contract and required the city to pay a higher price to acquire the facility.
McIntire was the sole vote against the city working with a non-profit organization to acquire 39 acres of wetlands off Steels Corners Rd. at no cost to the city. His opposition centered on the city not having previously included the project in its 5-year parks plan. “I’m not supporting it regardless of who’s paying for it,” McIntire said at the time of the vote.
McIntire delayed action for five months on pay raises for the police chief, fire chief and other non-union employees who hadn’t had raises in 15 years and then voted against the final legislation providing those raises because he wanted to personally approve every city employee’s pay.
In addition to actively working against rather than in collaboration with the administration to improve city services and operations, McIntire has voted against the interests of the voters.
Some recent examples:
Residents filled council chambers for multiple meetings in 2023 to oppose the development of Miller’s Landing, a Pulte project on N. River Rd. McIntire (and Fiocca) are the only two remaining council members who voted in favor of the development, which passed 5-2 (Councilman At-Large Cyle Feldman and Ward 1 Councilman Matt Riehl both voted against).
McIntire rejected most of this year’s Charter Review Commission’s recommendations for charter changes they felt should be put to a vote by Stow voters. At a Candidate’s Night hosted by Stow Citizens for Non-Partisan Politics on Sept. 30, McIntire stated that not one resident had ever told him they wanted Ranked Choice Voting. And, yet, dozens of residents voiced support for the seven rejected recommendations, including Ranked Choice Voting, at two public meetings in council chambers that McIntire failed to attend.
Donations from Confessed Embezzler
Apparently, when it comes to McIntire’s political career, he expects voters to trust him for another term, regardless of who pays the way.
On Nov. 13, 2024, Jon Leissler, a former Stow-Munroe Falls School Board member who had just concluded an unsuccessful campaign for the Ohio Senate, was sued by his employer for embezzling $4.1 million, $800,000 of which he confessed to having used for his campaign and the rest on business startups, his mortgage, vehicles and other personal expenses. The case was settled under seal on May 27, 2025.
Between Jan. 11, 2023, and Oct. 10, 2024, McIntire accepted $14,000 in donations from Jon Leissler -- $6,500 from Leissler personally and $7,500 from his Leissler for Ohio campaign account.
See the pertinent records from McIntire’s campaign finance reports below, filed with the Summit County Board of Elections:
McIntire won his re-election bid to City Council in 2023 and then ran a failed campaign in 2024 for Summit County Council.
As of the latest campaign finance report filed by McIntire earlier this week and nearly one year since Leissler’s embezzlement became public news, McIntire has not disavowed his political ties to Leissler or returned the ill-gotten funds donated to his campaign.
A trusted leader? Transparent and accountable?
From efforts to block the administration on important initiatives to ignoring residents who contribute their time on voluntary commissions or who show up to give their input on legislation, and then accepting significant contributions from a confessed embezzler, McIntire has exhibited an arrogance that he can govern any way he wants to.
Stow has better choices for City Council this election. It’s time to move on from Jeremy McIntire.
Other Articles in our 2025 Stow Election Coverage:
