NELSONVILLE, Ohio — Two sets of Nelsonville city employees have filed votes of no confidence with their unions over conduct by City Council President Rita Nguyen — whose status on council is in question.
In what seems like a repeat of the past, Nguyen resigned Feb. 17 but subsequently rescinded the resignation. She contends that she rescinded her resignation in time for it to be void, but several council and city officials disagreed with that claim at Monday night’s council meeting.
Nguyen presided over Monday’s meeting, prompting objections from council member Johnny Flowers and City Manager Tom Cangemi. Council member Cory Taylor said he recognized Nancy Sonick, who was named vice president in January, as council president.
Nguyen’s presiding over the meeting led future City Attorney Mathew Voltloni, whose employment begins in 15 days, to question the meeting’s legality.
“Why would you let this meeting go forward at all?” Voltolini asked the city.
The council declined to enter into an executive session to discuss Nguyen’s resignation, as well as two letters detailing votes of no confidence that city employees filed with their unions. Both letters related to Nguyen’s conduct.
The first letter was from the Nelsonville Police Department and filed with the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association this month, Cangemi said Monday night. The vote of no confidence was due to Nguyen “creating a hazardous work environment,” the letter states, although she has no official role in the department.
The letter asserts that Nguyen meddled in department affairs regarding the the city’s switch in dispatching services contract from Hocking College to Athens County 911. The letter also stated that Nguyen “does not care for [NPD officers’] well-being or the ability to take care of our city safely and quickly.”
“Officers also believe that the police department is being targeted,” Cangemi read from the NPD grievance.
The second letter was from the city’s utility service workers, represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Both letters spoke in opposition to Ordinance 03-24, which declared city vehicles are for on-duty business use only and required those vehicles to be parked on city property when not in use. Council members Gregg Clement and Taylor voted against that ordinance, which passed 4-2 on Feb. 5.
The second letter also said the city has “failed city employees with the lack of urgency” in renewing “previously negotiated and expired” union contracts citywide. It also described Nguyen’s “behavior” as “nothing short of a tyrant or a dictatorship.”
“All of those are lies,” Nguyen said of the grievance letters in an interview Tuesday.
Cangfemi told the Independent Tuesday that the city must act on grievances filed with the union within 10 days.
A council of five, or six?
Nguyen, who replaced Greg Smith as president, resigned via email on the afternoon of Saturday, Feb. 17. She rescinded the resignation the next day, Sunday, Feb. 18. Nguyen said Monday night that she regretted resigning.
“I will say it was a knee-jerk reaction due to the situation at the time,” Nguyen said. “The more I thought about it, the more I realized that was not something I could do. I could not let the people of Nelsonville down … who had taken the time to go and vote to get me elected. And the folks that put their trust in me to hopefully help bring the city forward in a better place.”
Nguyen’s resignation, if effective, means the council would have two open seats, following Smith’s resignation on Feb. 12. The council declined to interview candidates Monday night, given how long the meeting had gone on.
Cangemi argued that Nguyen’s resignation was effective immediately and couldn’t have been rescinded unless the resignation was set for a future date. He said he had consulted the Athens County Board of Elections, Athens County Prosecutor’s Office and the Ohio State Attorney General and was advised to “make this public if it couldn’t be made in an executive session with the president of council.”
“She is not the president of council and once we get our attorneys on it, she will be removed,” Cangemi said Tuesday.
Nguyen argued that precedent for rescinding a resignation was established in April 2023, when four council members resigned, but three rescinded within three days (one was current member Clement).
A week later, the council met as usual, with only one member officially gone. Then-council member Neil Sommers told the Independent at the time that because the body did not formally accept the resignations, they were not effective. Sommers later resigned for good.
Resigning and rescinding a resignation was also a point of contention for former city manager Bernie Roell, who verbally resigned during an executive session in May 2023. Roell unsuccessfully attempted to rescind his resignation.
As of Wednesday, Sonick’s email signature stated, “Acting President.” It remains unclear if Nguyen’s seat has been effectively vacated.
911 woes
The emergency dispatching contract cited in the police department’s grievance also was discussed Monday night.
In late January, the Athens Messenger reported that the NPD had signed a contract with Athens County 911. The Messenger article prompted some council members to accuse Cangemi of withholding information from the council.
However, the Messenger article’s headline is inaccurate.
Nguyen said the council was unaware of any work going on with 911 until the Messenger story, and that she reached out to Commissioner Charlie Adkins to learn more.
Adkins confirmed Wednesday that Nguyen reached out to him. He also said the city has not yet signed a contract with Athens County 911.
“We’re ready anytime they’re ready,” Adkins said. ”Whether they come, whether they don’t, it doesn’t change our operations. But we have it set to go, once they decide whether they’re coming or not.”
Both Sonick and City Auditor Taylor Sappington said in emails that they were not aware of any contract between the NPD and/or city and Athens County 911.
The city doesn’t have a contract with Hocking College 911 dispatching either. Instead, it paid an $80,000 invoice last year for dispatch services from July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024.
The move to explore dispatching options comes from pressure within the NPD. The Independent obtained a record indicating that a Hocking dispatcher failed to warn officers that someone involved in an August 2023 incident had prior arrests for assault, domestic violence and carrying a concealed weapon, among other reports from NPD to Hocking over dispatching issues.
“There are many more issues which have not been documented just due to the constant nature of them as well as officers feeling like it doesn’t matter due to the issue seemingly always being put off,” Tolliver said in an email.
Athens County 911 Director Teresa Fouts-Imler did not return a call in time for publication.
Trash contract update
Cangemi told council that the city continues to consider extending its contract with Athens-Hocking Recycling Centers, Inc. for refuse and recycling services. The current contract, which began in 2021, expires March 31.
AHRC Board of Directors President Andy Vogt told council that the city has been looking at two one-year extensions for this year and 2025, with a 4% rate increase this year and a 3% increase next year.
The Athens-Hocking Solid Waste District is attempting to form a council of governments to absorb AHRC, which lost 40% of its annual revenue this year when the city of Athens decided to contract with Rumpke for refuse services instead. AHRC still has Nelsonville, Logan and individual customers.
Cangemi said the city is also considering the COG.
Council passed an ordinance on Jan. 22 that instructed the city manager to seek bids for trash services.
Nelsonville City Council meets every other Monday of each month. Its next regular meeting will be Monday, March 11 at 7 p.m. in Nelsonville City Council Chambers, 211 Lake Hope Drive. Meetings are also livestreamed on YouTube. Find more at cityofnelsonville.com.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that the city’s utility office workers authored the second union grievance, instead of the city’s utility service workers. This story has been updated to include the most accurate information. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
Additional correction: A previous version incorrectly stated: “The letter asserts that Nguyen meddled in department affairs by switching the city’s dispatching services contract from Hocking College to Athens County 911.” This sentence has been rephrased for accuracy and clarity. We apologize for this error.
Update: This story has been updated to include a link to a copy of the NPD grievance letter that the Independent received after initial publication.
Update: This story has been updated to include a link to a copy of the letter by the city’s utility service workers, which the Independent received after initial publication.
Let us know what's happening in your neck of the woods!
Get in touch and share a story!
