NELSONVILLE, Ohio — Nelsonville City Council reached unprecedented levels of disorder at a meeting April 14 when the Nelsonville Police Department arrested and charged former Council President Rita Nguyen with “disrupting a lawful meeting.”
On Monday, Nguyen interrupted the swearing-in of Nic Joseph Saul and Cameron Peck, who were appointed to fill two vacant council seats by Council President Gregg Clement on March 28. The appointments came after former council members Tony Dunfee and Justin Booth resigned in February.
“They should be told that if they take this seat, they will be added to the lawsuit,” Nguyen said.
Dunfee’s seat is the subject of a lawsuit brought against the city by Nguyen and Sue Powell, a former council member whom Nguyen had appointed to the council. The confusing procedural decisions that led to this moment stretch back two years, when council members began submitting – and then rescinding – resignations in droves.
Clement called the meeting to order, but Nguyen ignored his request. Under the Ohio Revised Code 2917.12, it is a fourth-degree misdemeanor to “do an act which obstructs or interferes” a nonreligious lawful meeting.
Nguyen also claimed that a “felon” cannot hold a seat on the council. In an interview with the Independent, Peck said that he assumed she was talking about him.
“I’m a nonviolent felon in the state of Ohio,” Peck said. “Six years ago I was a drug addict, like a needle in the arm, backpack kid, one of the guys you see everyday down here.”
Peck said he now works as an engineer for a small tech and manufacturing company in The Plains and his appointment to the council is the “ultimate get-back” as a former addict.
Under ORC 2961.02, a person with a “disqualifying offense” such as a felony cannot hold public office in the state of Ohio. On Thursday, the city shared a “city attorney clarification” regarding this question.
In the notice, the city attorney stated that “R.C. 2961.02 provides that one convicted of a disqualifying offense is prohibited from serving as a public official or employee. But the disqualifying offenses are expressly limited to felony theft or a felony involving fraud, deceit or theft.” The notice also said that “a more complete report will be presented at the regular council meeting scheduled for April 28, 2025.”
Police Chief Devon Tolliver told Nguyen if she continued to act out, she would be under arrest. As she continued to interrupt the meeting, Tolliver took out his handcuffs and grabbed her, informing her she was under arrest. When Clement called for a recess, the ongoing commotion from the hallway could still be heard from council chambers.
According to the NPD incident report, obtained via public records request, Tolliver said the council clerk told him that “this incident had been premeditated/staged,” and upon footage review, “observed what appeared to be Mrs. Nguyen attempting to grab at the holster/grip of my firearm.”
Long, confusing history
Nguyen became council president on Feb. 9, 2024, after her predecessor Greg Smith stepped down from the role. Smith officially resigned from the council on Feb. 12, opening up a seat that would later be at the center of Nguyen and Powell’s lawsuit against the city.
On Feb. 17, 2024, Nguyen resigned, only to rescind her resignation the next day. The lawsuit claims Nguyen was “under duress” from a city employee at the time of her resignation. She continued to reside over the meetings as council president.
Things got murky when the council voted 3–2 to appoint Dunfee to fill Smith’s seat on March 11, 2024, and held a special meeting on March 13, where the council voted 4–0 to replace Nguyen with council member Clement. Nguyen said she appointed Powell to fill the vacant seat on March 14, 2024.
On March 21, 2024, Clement appointed Opha Lawson to fill Nguyen’s seat on the council. At a regular meeting on March 25, nine people showed up to govern, even though only seven members can legally sit on the council.
Nguyen and Powell did not participate in a subsequent meeting on April 8, 2024, and filed a lawsuit April 26, 2024, for Dunfee and Lawson’s seats on the council.
Residents react
Nguyen declined to comment when contacted by the Independent. Powell told the Independent she was watching the live stream of the meeting when Nguyen was arrested.
“I went immediately over [to city hall],” Powell said. “She’s my friend.”
Nguyen was released from the holding cell before the council meeting ended Monday night. She is set to appear at the Athens Municipal Court on Thursday, April 24, almost a year after the initial lawsuit for the two council seats was filed.
“I went back to the police department and sat there and waited until they released Rita,” Powell said. “She was hysterical, complained of her wrist, complained of her back.”
Powell said Nguyen went to the emergency room where she was told she had a fractured bone in her wrist.
“I think there can be fault on both sides, but I think that the council could have defused the situation better than they did,” she said. “I do not think that she needed to be arrested.”
Powell clarified that she and Nguyen have not dropped their lawsuit against the city, despite claims it has been dismissed. The Ohio Supreme Court has sent the case back to the Ohio Fourth District Court of Appeals.
Powell said her attorney had filed papers on Tuesday, April 15, to add Joseph Saul to the lawsuit. Peck is not named because his seat was not included in the original lawsuit.
“It’s a very unfortunate situation,” she said. “This is just another black eye for Nelsonville.”
Council discussion
Clement told the Independent that in his experience, council members are usually sworn in at the beginning of the meeting before the council engages in other agenda items.
“When I asked Nic to come forward, I was looking down, and all of a sudden I hear Rita’s voice,” he said. “I didn’t even know she was in the room:”
Joseph Saul, who was being sworn-in when the arrest was made, said Nguyen had called her on Monday before the meeting.
“Considering the circumstances, it was a very pleasant and friendly conversation,” Saul said. “She assured me that she was not trying to intimidate me by any means, but wanted to let me know that my seat was involved in the lawsuit, which I was already aware of when I applied to fill the vacancy.”
Joseph Saul told the Independent she hopes people continue to pay attention to Nelsonville — even when it’s boring. She said she also wants to distance herself from the “drama” that has been created in the past several years.
“I am a little concerned about the flood of comments that have erupted on social media about this,” she said. “I value the intensity with which everybody is participating in this discussion, but I wish that intensity would translate to regular involvement in local current events and government and politics.”
Nelsonville’s government turmoil is often discussed on the Nelsonville CrackHeads Facebook group.
“If a fraction of the people who watched the video of Rita getting arrested actually just came to meetings and had their voice heard and ran for office, I don’t think we would be in the predicament we are in today,” Joseph Saul said.
As the murmurs of the incident continue to echo throughout the city, Clement said he wants the council to move on. “I hope we can move forward and conduct our meetings in the structured way that they’re set up to be,” he said.
Joseph Saul said she wishes Nguyen would have waited until public comment to share her opinion.
“I don’t think that anybody who has the best interest of Nelsonville at heart would be doing anything to put us in the headlines for drama,” she said. “I really wish that she had found it within herself to hold her comments until the public comment portion of the meeting. She has a right to be heard, but there are rules we have to follow.”
Back to business
Council member Jonathan Flowers was absent from Monday’s meeting.
Reid Courtney, the ad-hoc advisory commission chair, said that the committee is not prepared to recommend action to the council. The Ohio League of Women Voters will host a public forum to discuss the process for drawing ward maps from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 27, at The Lodge at Hocking College.
The city shared ballot language for its upcoming primary election on May 6. Issue 4 asks voters to amend the city charter to allow a statutory form of government. If it passes, the amendment would repeal Issue 23, which abolished the city charter and implemented a statutory form of government. Issue 23 passed by a wide-margin in the 2024 general election.
A sample ballot generated by the Athens County Board of Elections for Nelsonville displays Issue 4.
The council also reappointed Nelsonville Police Chief Tolliver, since former city manager Tom Cangemi officially resigned April 7, after almost eight months of paid administrative leave following an investigation.
The council also:
- Entered into an agreement with DLZ Ohio for professional design services to renovate the street department building to an exercise facility and a construction contract with DV Webber for the city’s water improvement system.
- Passed a resolution to request the Athens County Auditor to certify the revenues generated by a 3 million replacement levy for the general construction, reconstruction, resurfacing and repair of streets, roads and bridges.
Nelsonville City Council meets every other Monday of each month, at Nelsonville City Council Chambers, 211 Lake Hope Drive. Its next regular meeting will be Monday, April 28, 2025, at 7 p.m. Meetings are live streamed on YouTube. Find more at cityofnelsonville.com.
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