A Clermont County resident who pushed for information about a tax increase that would fund an FC Cincinnati practice facility in the county alleges there has been an “unlawful conspiracy to silence” him.

Christopher Hicks says in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday that the tax increase was being coordinated “in secret” by Clermont County government officials. Hicks began questioning the increase in June of this year.

According to the lawsuit, county officials immediately “began evading Hicks' requests for records and intentionally omitting (his) statements during” county commissioner meetings.

That was done, the lawsuit says, “to frustrate his efforts to obtain information and to silence his criticism on the record.”

The County Convention and Visitor's Bureau – a nonprofit that includes several county officials on its board – wants the new FC Cincinnati practice facility built in the county. The preferred site initially was in the Village of Batavia. This is no longer an option, but other sites remain possibilities, according to the visitor's bureau. The lawsuit says the county would fund portions of the facility by assessing a 1 percent hotel tax.

Hicks, an active government transparency advocate, tried to obtain public records regarding the plan and spoke openly about it at public meetings and through social media and YouTube.

Throughout the summer, the lawsuit says county commissioners – led by Commissioner David Uible – engaged in a conspiracy with the sheriff’s office and the visitor's bureau to stop Hicks from getting information and to “silence and omit his statements during county meetings.”

Uible was unavailable for comment Wednesday. Clermont County Assistant Prosecutor Ernie Ramos said he could not comment on pending litigation. His office is representing the board of commissioners.

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Clermont County Sheriff Robert Leahy said in a statement that his office has been open and transparent with Hicks "by answering any questions he has raised regarding our involvement or perceived involvement in this matter."

"It is unfortunate that this is the path he has chosen," Leahy said. "It is his right to seek relief in the court system, and I am supportive of him exercising that right."

Among Hicks’ claims is that Uible violated state ethics rules by accepting and failing to disclose a 2016 trip to Atlanta with FC Cincinnati President Jeff Berding and others.

Uible also is on the visitor bureau’s executive board of trustees – something Hicks has publicly called a conflict of interest. Other board members include county Auditor Linda Fraley and county Chief Deputy Auditor Chuck Tilbury. Hicks pushed county Prosecutor D. Vincent Faris for answers.

In August, Faris requested formal, written opinions from Attorney General Mike DeWine regarding the “compatibility of positions” including: county commissioner, county auditor, deputy county auditor or an employee of the county department of community and economic development.

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The first opinion was shared Oct. 10. According to DeWine, Fraley cannot serve as county auditor and as a member or treasurer of the visitor bureau's board of trustees.

In his opinion, DeWine wrote: “In this instance, a person that serves simultaneously as Clermont County auditor and member or treasurer of the board of trustees of the Clermont County Convention and Visitors Bureau will be subject to influences that may induce the person, as county auditor, to act in a way other than in the county’s best interests.”

Fraley, county auditor for 22 years, was appointed to the board in 2012 and served until this August when her term expired. She last served as the board’s vice chair.

During her service to the CVB, an unpaid position, Fraley said she was not aware of any conflict and added that she served with the “highest of integrity” ensuring internal controls and budgetary measures were in place. She never recorded the finances, she said. An outside accounting firm managed that.

“This is no reflection on my job as county auditor. I’m going to run again next year,” Fraley said.

Additional opinions are expected.

Hicks was the target of a civil protection order requested in August by Uible. In court documents, Uible said: “I am very concerned about my welfare with this man who seems delusional and a textbook psychotic.”

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Uible later voluntarily dropped the complaint.

In addition to money damages, the lawsuit is asking that the defendants' actions be declared "a conspiracy to violate Hicks' First Amendment rights." It also wants a judge to order that the visitor's bureau turn over the records requested.