TOLEDO, Ohio — Democratic Lucas County commissioners Pete Gerken and Anita Lopez faced off against their Republican opponents, Tom Waniewski and John Rozic, in a debate hosted by WTOL 11 on Thursday at the Toledo Lucas County Public Library.
In the first debate between Gerken and Waniewski, recent controversy at Lucas County Canine Care and Control took center stage.
One month ago, the county Board of Commissioners unanimously voted to fire former warden Kelly Sears after the suspension of LC4's volunteer program in August and multiple complaints of staff and animals being mistreated.
Now, Gerken, the board president, says another employee is facing punishment.
"We had an employee in there that was not behaving professionally at one point," he said in the debate, moderated by WTOL 11 anchor Jeff Smith. "She's been disciplined, she's back to work, and now she's being disciplined again for a weapons charge. She brought a weapon to the county canine care and control. We removed her immediately and we're going to pursue the highest level of discipline we can get."
Gerken says the volunteer program is coming back soon, too.
"We're going to put together a program that can be managed with some parameters around it, that way employees can know what to expect when they come in," he said. "We'll have that out in the next 10 days."
But Waniewski says he's waiting for proof.
"I'll believe it when I see it," he said. "He (Gerken) has stonewalled the dog advocates in this community for years, and even in the last few months, when they were trying to figure out what's happening, based on the allegations that were brought by the volunteer, he stonewalled them constantly."
Waniewski blamed the issues at LC4 on Gerken.
"Thank goodness that Channel 11 brought this up because it probably would still be going on," Waniewski said. "He's (Gerken) reactive instead of proactive."
Recent county employee payoffs were also discussed in the debate.
In the last year, there have been three Lucas County employee settlements totaling $345,000.
One of the employees is a former assistant of Lopez and received a settlement of $36,476.12 after the employee was found to have been bullied in the workplace back in May.
"Unfortunately I was not my best," said Lopez, whose debate against Rozic was moderated by WTOL 11 anchor Caylee Kirby. "I took responsibility for it. I admitted it, and I took action to make sure I work on controlling my stress and not overwhelming myself."
Another issue discussed was the long-planned new county jail. The project has been delayed due to higher-than-expected cost estimates, the latest of which appraises the cost at $290 million, compared to the $220 million the county originally budgeted for it.
Rozic said the stalled project is frustrating not only because of the price but the years it's taken to get to this point.
"If the jail needs to be done, we need to do it," he said. "We don't have to rush to do it, but certainly there's been no rush because of all the time that's been wasted."
Lopez even took it a step further, questioning if this downtown jail may even happen at all.
"When it comes to a $300 million price tag, right now, no way is that guaranteed," she said.
You can watch the full debate below: