Reported by: Bill Price
Photographed by: Gary Hughes
Web produced by: Neil Relyea
How Clermont County's Union Township handled almost $800,000 in contracts between its former administrator and his son's company will now be examined by the Ohio Ethics Commission.
The Ohio State Auditor says the payments for engineering work by a company owned by the son of former Township Administrator Doug Walker need to be reviewed.
Just two days after the Union Township trustees "fired" Township Administrator Walker, comes word that the Ohio Auditor wants the state Ethics Commission to look into "conflict of interest" allegations.
On Thursday Union Township offices were open and an interim Township Administrator was on duty, but no one there was willing to talk publicly about a new audit report from Ohio State Auditor Mary Taylor.
The Republican state auditor says as a result of the 41-page report, she wants the Ohio Ethics Commission to review the case.
Her report cites almost $800,000 in contacts given to an engineering group run by former Administrator Doug Walker's son, Mark.
She also says she found Walker did not abstain from voting to appoint his son to the Township Zoning Appeals Board.
The Union Township taxpayer who first wrote to the auditor says he feels his complaints have been justified.
Alex Lambros says, "This report justifies that I have the legal ground and the moral ground and they should take responsibility for their wrong doings and their lack of leadership."
The audit report follows an hours-long executive trustee meeting on Tuesday, where Walker lost his $130,000 a year township administrator job.
Now, the Clermont County Democratic Party says this issue extends beyond just Union Township.
Party chairman Dave Lane tells 9News, "Well, I'll confess it is political. In Clermont County, we have two sitting county commissioners under investigation. One with the Ethics Commission and the other with a special prosecutor."
The former Township Administrator is married to Mary Walker, a Clermont Commissioner now being investigated by a special prosecutor for county payments to their son's company in 2006.
When 9News went to see Mark Walker on Thursday at his offices at Professional Engineering Group in Batavia, he refused comment and asked us to leave his office.
The state ethics commission could exonerate him or find there were violations.
If there are "conflict of interest" violations, Ohio law says a conviction could carry a sentence of up to a $1,000 fine and up to six months in jail.
