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YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County Commissioner David Ditzler confirmed Thursday that the lawsuit filed against the commissioners and their administrator by Ricky Morrison, a fired and then rehired county maintenance worker, paid Morrison $175,000.
But Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti said after the regular commissioners meeting that she and Ditzler did not vote or agree to fire Morrison for supporting Rimedio-Righetti's Republican opponent, Geno DeFabio, in last November's election.
"Nobody voted" Rimedio-Righetti said when The Vindicator asked her about Commissioner Anthony Traficanti's allegations to the newspaper that Rimedio-Righetti and Ditzler voted at a Dec. 1, 2022, executive session to fire Morrison. Traficanti has said he voted against the termination.
"No. We vote through resolution. Nobody voted. Where he is coming from, I don't know," she said of Traficanti.
Asked if she and Ditzler made an agreement to fire Morrison, she said: "No. It didn't happen."
Asked again about Traficanti's remarks, she said, "I don't care what anybody says."
She later added, "Back in executive session, you talk about issues. But you can't vote in executive session. You come out and you agree" or don't agree.
She emphasized that "the commissioners do not agree to anything unless we are on this dais," the table in the meeting room where they have regular weekly meetings and vote on issues.
Asked again about Traficanti's allegation, she said: "I don't give a (expletive) what he said. This is the truth. Go look at the law. I'm sick of the lies."
Traficanti was asked by text message if he wanted to respond to her remarks, and he did not reply.
The Vindicator tried to ask Ditzler during the meeting whether he and Rimedio-Righetti voted or agreed to fire Morrison at a Dec. 1 executive session, but he said the board meeting was "not a question-and-answer session." He never mentioned anything about a later opportunity for reporters to ask questions.
At the end of the meeting, Ditzler asked for a motion to "recess" the meeting. The motion was made and approved.
Ditzler then said: "We have another meeting coming up in case anyone has any questions or anything, if anyone responds to, then we'll reconvene the meeting and adjourn." It was unclear what he was talking about.
Another reporter asked if there would be a cost to taxpayers for the Morrison settlement, and Ditzler said there would be "no effect on public funds. It's all from the insurance company."
A short time later, Ditzler asked for a motion to "reconvene the meeting," which was made and approved.
A second later, Ditzler asked for a motion to adjourn, and it was made and approved. When Ditzler was then asked what type of "questions" he was talking about at "another meeting," he said that was the opportunity to ask about the lawsuit that had just ended.
When The Vindicator again tried to ask Ditzler about Traficanti's allegations, Ditzler said the commissioners were no longer "in open meeting," so he would not answer questions.
When Audrey Tillis, county administrator, was asked later whether the county pays a deductible on claims such as the Morrison case, she said the county met its deductible in June for lawyer fees on the Morrison case, so the county paid the $25,000 deductible. She said there is no additional cost related to the $175,000 settlement.
JOINT STATEMENT
During the meeting, Ditzler read a "joint" statement from the commissioners that said the commissioners and Tillis "signed off on that settlement" at the request of CORSA, the county's insurance carrier.
But the settlement was not reached "based on any assessment of guilt or innocence. The insurance company settled based on the cost of litigation to go to trial versus the cost to settle early and avoid litigation."
The statement added, "We would have definitely preferred to go to trial and have everyone place their hand on the Bible and speak the truth, but at the end of the day, Mahoning County was being sued, and it is our obligation first and foremost to protect the institution we represent."
Ditzler then quoted from a letter that Gina DeGenova wrote to Morrison's attorneys in December, when DeGenova was interim county prosecutor. DeGenova stated that Tillis fired Morrison "and not the board of county commissioners, and that the administrator's action was not politically motivated."
The commissioners' statement said that "many people" think a goal of the Morrison litigation was to "promote self-serving political aspirations." The statement was not specific as to who the commissioners thought was acting with "political aspirations."
Rimedio-Righetti then said she agreed with "the statement we prepared."
Traficanti then said: "I opposed the termination, but I think it (settling) was in the best interests of the taxpayers of Mahoning County. It was a swift resolution of this case, which would have been very long and very costly and very burdensome for everyone involved."
Tillis then said, "I take great responsibility in the authority the board has appointed in me. I have worked here since 2012, and I think my record speaks for me."
During the meeting, Ditzler complained that media coverage of the Morrison lawsuit did not include coverage of the filings of the county's lawyers when they responded to the allegations from Morrison's lawyers.
The Vindicator found a Feb. 21 filing from the county's attorneys that contended that Tillis fired Morrison, who had not reached the end of his probationary period yet, for valid reasons.
"As the law provides, a probationary employee is one who can be terminated without any need for just cause and without any required disciplinary procedure, at the discretion of the county, provided that termination is not for a prohibited cause.
"Such a termination is exactly what happened on this occasion," the filing states.
Tillis and the commissioners believed Tillis had the authority because of a resolution the commissions approved in March 2020 because of COVID-19 that authorized the commissioners to appoint a county administrator to "perform any or all functions conferred or incumbent upon the board of county commissioners in the case of disaster or emergency."
She fired Morrison "due to a variety of concerns that rose prior to" the board of elections where he supported Rimedio-Righetti's opponent in the election, the filing states. Those concerns focused on "security concerns" about Morrison, it states.
Martin Desmond, one of Morrison's attorneys, asked Thursday about the "security concerns" comment, said: "The only security concern was that (Morrison) was a Republican, period, which is in and of itself a First Amendment violation."
Desmond said the attorneys for the commissioners did not provide "one single document. They never at any point documented that he was a security concern." Desmond said on the day Morrison returned to work, Morrison "was given complete access to every building that he had before he was terminated."