Crude comments, age behind firing?

READER ADVISORY: This story and video contain potentially offensive language.

Documents relating to the case, including the demand letter sent by Connie McClure-Ellington, a letter from the county to McClure and the letter sent by Jailer Chris Hankins to the state Attorney General are posted at the bottom of this story.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Ky. – A video of a Valentine's Day meeting between top officials in Grant County and its detention center shows the four men discussing the political ramifications of firing a long-time payroll clerk. And the recently elected judge-executive is heard making sexist comments about who should replace her, using crude language to discuss the female anatomy of a possible replacement.

Armed with that video, fired payroll clerk Connie McClure-Ellington is seeking $750,000 in lost wages and damages in a letter filed with county officials. The letter states the county has 30 days to respond or a lawsuit will be filed. It's a situation that also includes a possible power struggle between county administrators and the elected jailer over control of the Grant County Detention Center.

"I couldn't believe it when I saw and heard it," said McClure's lawyer Gail Langendorf. "You think this is what may happen in back rooms across America, but it is amazing and disturbing to see it actually happen."

County attorney Joe Taylor said in a statement Thursday that the county was submitting the letter to its insurance company "in preparation for a vigorous defense against the claims that have been made" and other county officials also denied any political or age-related motivations for releasing McClure.

The video, taken as part of the jail's round-the-clock video surveillance and obtained by The Enquirer through an open records request, features a two-hour meeting between recently elected Judge-executive Stephen Wood, deputy judge-executive Scott Kimmich, Jailer Chris Hankins and his brother and top assistant Jason Hankins. Wood and Hankins won their seats last November, and Wood hired Kimmich at $55,000 annually soon thereafter.

The initial focus of the Feb. 14 meeting was to determine how much money was left in the jail's personnel budget. But it soon turns to how the county needs to find a way to eliminate McClure as she was earning $46,000 at the time. Her position was eliminated at the end of June, and she left the county eligible to receive most of her pension along with health benefits.

"I don't care if you have a brain surgeon in there, the job is only worth $30,000," Kimmich says in the video. He also points out repeatedly issues he had with how McClure was processing payroll and that he had concerns about her performance.

"If we let that continue and someone catches something, we deserve to be indicted," Kimmich says.

About halfway through the meeting, Chris Hankins tells Wood that eliminating McClure "will hurt you" politically. All four agree that McClure voted for the Democratic opponents of both Wood and Chris Hankins.

"She didn't vote for you or me either," Wood says.

"And it might not be politics ... it would be people saying 'look what the county did to a little old lady who lives down by the lake in Corinth,' " Chris Hankins says.

Wood also discusses how his assistant Pat Conrad, who also worked for Wood's Democratic predecessor Darryl Links, was loyal and had even contributed to his campaign. He said he felt she had been a Democrat but had remained helpful. Langendorf pointed out the issue about the donation in her letter to the county, saying it showed Wood's political favoritism.

Kimmich later says he only mistrusts two people in the county government, clearly indicating that McClure is one of them. Then at the end of the meeting, Wood says "if I'm going to replace Connie, she's going to be blonde, 24, big tits." He then goes on to tell a sexist joke.

Crude comments a 'locker room joke'

In an interview after the Grant County Fiscal Court meeting Monday, Wood said "We were in a jovial mood. We were just joking around a little bit."

And Kimmich strongly denied that the firing was politically motivated.

"Absolutely, this was not politically motivated," an animated Kimmich said.

According to Taylor, eliminating McClure's position was part of a restructuring of the jail's finances.

"No personnel decision has been made with consideration to age, appearance, or political affiliation. Period," according to his statement.

In the statement, Wood said: "It is offensive for someone to allege I would ever make personnel decisions based on a locker room joke, which I only recently learned was secretly recorded in a meeting in the jailer's office at his request. I look forward to the opportunity to vigorously defend these allegations in a court of law."

As for Kimmich's comments about mistrusting McClure, Taylor's statement said Kimmich would not comment further due to possible pending litigation. Taylor also said he cannot comment or provide any other information showing any concerns or proof of improper behavior by McClure "due to pending litigation."

McClure, who declined interviews, started seeking counsel for her case this summer, Langendorf said.

"They say they offered her a part-time position, but they never did and the video clearly shows that they had intent to get rid of her and it was politically motivated ... and we're filing for age discrimination as well," Langendorf said.

The Florence-based lawyer also represented workers for the Kenton County Clerk's office who sued over politically charged firings in 2009-10. She won a $500,000 settlement for the first four. Langendorf subsequently lost an appeal for the chief deputy who was also fired, with the court ruling she was not protected from a political firing.

Kimmich was working at Kenton County as a deputy judge-executive at the time, and Langendorf presented evidence in that case that "bad blood" and differing political views between Kimmich and her client were a possible cause for her firing, a charge Kimmich has denied.

Lawsuits, power struggle over jail

This isn't the first controversy surrounding the Grant County Detention Center. Several former employees and former inmates have sued the county over treatment of prisoners, claims of improper firing and even sexual misconduct. The county's insurance company has already paid out $585,000 in damages. While any insurance would probably cover the new claims if it resulted in either a settlement or judgment, $750,000 still represents more than five percent of the county's $12 million budget.

There is another suit filed last year by former jail deputy Steve Skinner alleging that former jailer Terry Peeples routinely harassed inmates and employees sexually and even used county funds to pay for a trip with a female who was not his wife. Chris Hankins defeated Peeples, a former jail deputy, in last November's election.

In 2005, the U.S. Justice Department cited the jail, which also houses state prisoners, for unsuitable conditions.

Indications of a power struggle over the jail arose last month when the Grant County Fiscal Court voted to impose a new organizational structure and potential budget without knowledge of the jailer Chris Hankins. That prompted Hankins to ask Attorney General Jack Conway to intervene. A letter sent to Conway states that Hankins, not the judge-executive, should have organizational control over the jail by way of Kentucky law and since he is the elected constitutional officer.

"The restructuring has caused significant chain of command issues amongst the ranks in the Jail," the letter from Hankins' lawyer Shane Sidebottom states. "May a non-elected third party, such as a deputy Judge Executive, assume the duties of the Jailer and submit an organizational chart on behalf of the Jail to the Fiscal Court for adoption without the elected Jailer's approval, consent, or even consultation?"

Taylor, however, defended the move in the statement, saying "we have been advised the Fiscal Court has the authority to approve a listing of positions and salary for each."

Hankins declined comment, referring all questions to Sidebottom. He did say in a statement that it is jail policy to record all movements in the building 24 hours a day and that advisory signs stating that policy are posted throughout the jail.

"It is the Jail’s general policy, that unless there is an ongoing investigation, those recordings can be inspected through an Open records requests," the statement said. Hankins also said he has not watched the videotape nor discussed it with McClure, referring all questions about the meeting to Fiscal Court officials.

Officials with Conway's office acknowledged Wednesday receiving the request, but said they were "in the process of evaluating the best course of action."

In the video, Kimmich also says he would move to make changes to the county and jail budgets "in caucus meetings when the cameras are off."

Taylor said in his statement that there has never been any attempt to skirt or avoid state open meetings laws, however.

"No action has ever been taken as a result of a caucus that was not first brought before the court in regular session for a formal vote," Taylor said in the statement.