Dover mayor’s firings during inquiry ‘reeks of retaliation’
DOVER — A once-absent mayor facing a special prosecutors’ investigation fired three city employees who testified about him during a City Council investigation earlier this year.
Dover Mayor Richard Homrighausen fired Service Director Dave Douglas, Safety Director Gerry Mroczkowski and Eva Newsome, the mayor’s executive assistant, on Tuesday just days before Christmas. Police officers stood by as they cleaned out their offices.
After firing Douglas, Homrighausen was asked what was going on. He re
plied, “Taking care of city business.”
He declined to comment further, but later announced the appointment of two new directors while thanking Mroczkowski and Douglas “for their dedicated service.” None of the three has any disciplinary action in their personnel files.
Homrighausen, 73, stopped coming to work and council meetings for months in this city of about 13,000 residents south of Canton along I-77 in Tuscarawas County, prompting a council investigation into his physical and mental well-being. Council members have called upon him to resign, citing a declining faith in his ability to lead the city.
Instead, the eight-term mayor returned and found himself at the center of a state investigation with three special prosecutors from the Ohio Auditor’s Office assigned to the case. He also has been peppered with critical questions from the council.
Council President Shane Gunnoe described the situation as “an embarrassing time.”
“These types of actions and those that have preceded for the last several months are embarrassing to the people of Dover and embarrassing to the employees of the city of Dover,” Gunnoe said.
“To me, these employees were employees who have carried the load the last two years in the city,” he said. “I think their termination was just disgusting. My personal opinion is that it reeks of retaliation by the mayor for their cooperation in council’s legislative hearing into personnel issues earlier this year.”
At a special council meeting Thursday called after the firings, members expressed their anger and disillusionment with Homrighausen, who they want to see leave his role.
“For most of my life, I believed Mayor Homrighausen cared more about this city than anyone,” said Councilman Justin Perkowski. “The last few years I realized he only cared about being mayor more than anyone.”
Councilwoman Sandy Moss said she did not prepare a speech, because she was speechless.
“I have been here for 21 years,” she said.”i have worked with Dave for those 21 years. I never, ever thought the mayor would do anything like he has done. I’m shocked, as we all are.”
Homrighausen did not attend the meeting, e-mailing members it would be inappropriate to attend because of recent council comments and reminding Law Director Doug O’meara that it is his job to represent the city and the administration “in an unbiased manner.”
O’meara responded, “I don’t need to be lectured by somebody, who in my estimation, in a very short order will be facing the music.”
Criticism before firings
In recent weeks, the council has demanded Homrighausen fire Dave Filippi , superintendent of the municipal power plant, which he has refused to do so far.
The council blames Filippi for $350,000 in cost overruns for repairs at the city’s electric plant and his approval of hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix two generators without council authorization. Auditor Nicole Stoldt’s further says that Filippi misused his city credit card several years ago without discipline.
Homrighausen told media members he will make a termination decision before Filippi retires on Jan. 3.
Stoldt told the council that Filippi has 960 hours of sick time he will be allowed to cash in before retirement. The payout will amount to $42,000. He would lose that money if he was fired, she said.
All three fired employees provided affidavits to city council as part of its investigation.
Douglas, a 25-year city employee, said mayor often would sleep during daily meetings.
“One of the most noticeable differences has been his falling asleep during meetings,” he said. “I specifically recall that in interviews with prospective employees, he was increasingly putting his head down for periods of time, and seemed to be dozing.”
Mroczkowski, who was hired in 2018, spoke about the state of the mayor’s health in recent years.
“Whatever has caused the mayor’s health to decline is preventing him from thinking rationally and from being able to hold a conversation. The mayor’s health has been so bad for so long that I do not know that it can be fixed,” he said.
Earlier this year, the mayor broke his hip.
Newsome, a seven-year employee, testified that she was told by the mayor’s son, Nicholas, that she could not tell anyone. The mayor’s wife, Linda, also told Newsome that she could not tell anyone about the mayor’s health issues.
“Recently, when I am on a phone call with the mayor, I can hear the mayor’s son, Nicholas Homrighausen, or the mayor’s wife in the background seeming to assist him on what to say,” she said.
According to the final report on the investigation, employees testified that the mayor came to work infrequently and that it was difficult to reach him when he was needed to sign documents.
The report also said that Homrighausen was involved in the hiring of his son as a city employee and ruled on a grievance filed by several employees, including his son. In addition, employees said they had been asked to solicit donations for Homrighausen’s annual golf outing, a fundraising event.
Jon Baker is a reporter for the Timesreporter.