Scioto County Commissioner Scottie Powell called the decision to put County Economic Development Director Robert Horton back on the job, “Wild” and “Bizarre.”
Commissioners put Horton on paid administrative leave after investigators from the State Auditors Office seized records involving Horton, who is also the president of the Southern Ohio Port Authority. Horton was not removed from that position.
Commissioner Cathy Coleman made the motion to revoke the paid administrative leave and put Horton back on the job at Thursday’s meeting.
Commissioner Scottie Powell said, “I think this is a wild decision to make. We are dealing with a criminal investigation. We are dealing with a situation, quite frankly, I don’t think this county has ever dealt with, so it’s unprecedented. A judge saw enough information to issue a search warrant and raid one of our offices. We know it’s a criminal investigation. We’ve been told so by the investigator. Do we know when it’s going to be over? No we do not. Do we know if anybody’s been indicted? No, we do not. By lifting this restriction, we are now opening the county up to additional risk should somebody be doing something unlawful or unethical. We are opening up the county for additional risk. I want to make this very clear. I deal with these types of situations all the time. It is unprecedented to have this level of an allegation and to allow somebody to stay in that environment where they can potentially continue the same behavior.” Powell said he wasn’t saying that Horton was guilty, but considering what they knew about the investigation, “To allow someone back into that environment with no guardrails, quite frankly, it’s bizarre. I don’t understand it. I don’t know why we would open up the county for additional risk. But it’s clear I think I’m probably the sole person with that opinion on this board.”
Commissioner Coleman said, “I know what we have different opinions on this decision from the very beginning. From the first executive session with our attorney. I felt that we were being hasty. That we didn’t know what the allegation was. There were certainly no charges or indictments. I firmly believe in America that we are innocent until proven guilty. If something comes, I’ve spoken with the lead investigator just about a week ago to see if they were any closer to coming to a determination. He said they were still gathering information, and he was not in a hurry.”
Coleman said she felt she made the decision to suspend Horton with pay hastily and had regretted it ever since. “If there’s an indictment, I’ll be the first to make the motion to act at that time.”
Commissioner Davis said he appreciated the candor of both commissioners. “There is a general disagreement. This does happen from time to time. There are times that we disagree.” Davis said he wasn’t present for the original leave of absence vote, but would have voted against it. He said the commissioners had not been made aware of any serious allegations by the investigator. “In America, you are innocent until proven guilty. There’s a certain amount of political pressure being applied by people within the community.” He said that individuals had made “patently false” allegations and objected to the use of the word “raid” to describe investigators executing a search warrant to take items from Port Authority offices. He also objected to the fact that the state hadn’t interviewed members of the Port Authority. Davis said he hoped commissioners could take steps to better separate the County Economic Development Office from the Port Authority to clear up any gray areas in the operations. “We received no instruction on how to do so. I’m asking for that.” Davis said if any impropriety were to come to light, he would work with the other commissioners to resolve it.”