NELSONVILLE, Ohio — Nelsonville’s city manager officially signed off yesterday on a nearly $100,000 settlement agreement with the city’s former attorney.
Garry Hunter alleged in a 2023 lawsuit that the city had not compensated him for work he performed, including work related to the city’s new regional wastewater treatment plant. Hunter was city attorney from 2012 to 2021, according to court documents.
The city agreed to settle the case through Ordinance 93-24, passed by Nelsonville City Council at its Dec. 9, 2024, meeting. Interim city manager Devon Tolliver signed off on the settlement agreement on Jan. 23, making it official.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Nelsonville is to pay Hunter $98,371.99 within the next 30 days. Nelsonville continues to deny liability in the case, and Hunter waives any other claims he might have against the city, meaning he cannot sue over the same issue again.
According to records from the Athens County Court of Common Pleas, on May 9, 2023, former city attorney Hunter filed suit for unpaid wages against the city of Nelsonville, Nelsonville City Auditor Taylor Sappington in his professional capacity, and the United States Department of Agriculture. (Claims against the USDA were dismissed less than a month after the case was filed.)
In his lawsuit, Hunter argued the city owed him a total of nearly $270,000, for his work related to the wastewater treatment plant, and for his general work for the city.
Nelsonville City Auditor Taylor Sappington said in an email that Hunter’s $60,000 annual salary “was paid in full every year, on time.” Sappington said that Hunter’s disputed, additional invoices would have increased his average annual compensation to about $150,000.
Sappington said in an email that many of the invoices at issue “were submitted years late.” Additionally, “No City Manager or City Council ever submitted approval to our office to consider and/or pay these invoices in their original amounts,” he added.
The funds to pay for the settlement “are coming from the state/federal intergovernmental funds set aside for legal services on the Sewer Projects,” Sappington said. “My office was informed that the settlement amount was agreeing to pay out amounts earned for additional work on the Sewer Projects as designed into the projects and funded.”
Although the settlement amount falls well short of the total amount Hunter argued he was owed, as part of the agreement he agreed not to fight for the rest of the money.
Initially, the city had considered a larger settlement with Hunter.
At a meeting on Jan. 22, 2024, council tabled an emergency order that would have entered it into a nearly $150,000 settlement with Hunter. The ordinance approving the larger settlement was again heard and tabled at a meeting on Feb. 12, 2024.
Though the city wound up paying a lesser amount, this is just its latest, costly settlement it has entered into. Last year, the city entered a $70,000 settlement with former council member Greg Smith.
Additionally, the city is currently finalizing a settlement agreement with Nelsonville residents Bobby Hunt and Ashley Klinedinst in an alleged police misconduct case.
USDA project
On Aug. 29, 2019, according to Hunter’s 2021 complaint, Hunter entered into a legal services contract with the USDA and city, as its attorney. Hunter said in the complaint that he provided legal services associated with the construction of its Mark Hall Sr. Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant, which opened in 2024.
Hunter’s 2021 complaint stated that he submitted billable hours and expenses for the project, separate from his work as city attorney. But those payments, which were to be funded through a USDA grant and loan, he alleged, were never fulfilled.
In the complaint, Hunter said that as of April 30, 2023, he was owed $154,665.58 by the city, which the city had been paid by the USDA.
General work
In his 2021 complaint, Hunter also alleged that as of April 30, 2023, the city owed him $113,411.63 for “general work done as City Attomey,” and he requested “added interest for continued non-payment over multiple years including interest through the date set forth herein.”
Also in the 2021 complaint, Hunter asked for an interest rate of 5% per annum from April 30, 2023, on both counts, plus further costs.
Neither Hunter nor Tolliver immediately responded to requests for comment for this story.
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