LUCAS COUNTY, Ohio — The Lucas County Board of Commissioners voted Tuesday to approve the hiring of a new executive assistant to Anita Lopez, to fill the position made vacant after Lopez's previous assistant filed a complaint against her in March and remains on paid administrative leave.
The county commissioners voted unanimously to hire Brent Rombach to fill the vacant, full-time position. Rombach will be paid $28.73 per hour, or $59,758.40 per year, according to a commissioner meeting document.
Lopez's previous executive assistant, who was unnamed in the summarized report, filed a complaint to the Human Resources Director of the Board of the Lucas County Commissioners, alleging Lopez had harassed and bullied him, creating a hostile and unprofessional work environment.
There were concerns regarding potential violations of Ohio’s ethics laws regarding the conduct of elected officials. A third-party investigator was hired to report the findings and conclusions to the board’s outside general counsel.
The allegations focused on five incidents involving Lopez that occurred between March 6 and March 11 of this year, three of which were ruled to have violated the Lucas County Board of Commissioner's Harassment-free Work Environment Policy.
READ MORE: Lucas County commissioner found to have violated harassment-free workplace policy, bullied employee
The report found that Lopez’s conduct did not merit serious legal violations warranting removal from office nor did it reach the level of criminal conduct.
The former Lucas County auditor, Lopez was appointed by the county's Democratic central committee in January to fill the commissioner seat vacated when Tina Wozniak retired. Lopez won the Democratic primary for county commissioner in March, defeating Paula Hicks-Hudson in March. In November, Lopez will run against Republican John Rozic to retain her commissioner seat.
Rozic, among others in the Lucas County Republican Party, have called for an investigation into Anita Lopez by the Ohio Ethics Commission, criticizing the use of a hired third party to conduct the investigation. Additionally, the party called for the entire investigation - not just a summary - to be released to the public.
In a call with WTOL 11 on May 28, Lopez stated an investigation had already been conducted, and said the public has the same amount of information as the Ohio Ethics Commission.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct an error regarding the employment status of the previous executive assistant.
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