Miami County settles election board lawsuit

TROY – An out-of-court settlement has been reached in a lawsuit filed by the former deputy director of the Miami County Board of Elections over his firing in January 2017.

The settlement resulted in the filing of a notice of dismissal of the lawsuit by Eric Morgan on Wednesday in county Common Pleas Court.

The notice states the lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled, and that each party would pay their own attorney fees and costs. Jeremy Tomb, a Troy lawyer representing Morgan, filed the notice of dismissal. “We cannot talk about it,” he said of the settlement.

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Bev Kendall, board of elections director, was not available for comment late Wednesday afternoon. The board met several times with legal representatives from the county prosecutor’s office and a Columbus law firm. Prosecutor Tony Kendell said Wednesday he needed to check some information before commenting.

Morgan filed the lawsuit in January, claiming the board failed to follow legal requirements in meetings to discuss his job and termination. He sought a court order invalidating the board’s vote to terminate him from the position, a return to the position and damages more than $25,000 from the board.

The current board of elections voted in March to rescind the firing, saying the January 2017 motion was “not sufficiently specific.” It then voted at the same meeting to terminate Morgan again, after hearing details from Kendall about what led to the initial firing. The termination was effective the day of March 2018 vote.

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Kendall said Morgan allegedly violated terms of a workplace romance agreement that was signed with the board in fall 2016. In that agreement, he, as deputy director, agreed not to act in a supervisory role with an elections office employee with whom he was involved in a “romantic relationship.”

Kendall said Morgan violated the agreement by directing the employee in the handling of provisional ballot envelopes before the November 2016 election. The action was a violation of the workplace romance agreement signed by both Morgan and the employee, Chris Englert, assistant county prosecutor, told the board in March.

Kendell said in March the effect of the new board votes on the lawsuit, including issues of pay, remained to be decided.

The membership of the board of elections changed between the January 2017 and the March votes. Only one of the board members in January 2017 – Ryan King of Piqua – remains on the board. Other board members now include Chairman David Fisher and members Audrey Gillespie and Rob Long.

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