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Poland police chief receives reprimand from ethics panel
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Poland police Chief Russell Beatty.
POLAND
The Ohio Ethics Commission issued a reprimand to the village police chief for violating a nepotism provision of the ethics law but did not find enough evidence to recommend prosecution.
The commission received a complaint Aug. 24, 2009, alleging possible conflict of interest when Chief Russell Beatty II recommended hiring his son, Russell Beatty III, as a reserve police officer and later as a part-time officer in 2007, according to the settlement agreement reached March 10.
Although the commission issued a reprimand, the investigation found that the case should not be prosecuted because of mitigating factors, mainly that the chief’s intent would be difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt; the chief designated two officers to supervise full-time and part-time officers; and the chief was fully cooperative in the investigation, according to the agreement.
“Typically, a public official or employee can’t use their position or authority of office to hire a family member. However, there are situations where [family members] can work in the same public entity so long as the structure of hiring and supervision is not by a family member in power,” said Atty. Julie M. Korte, interim chief investigative attorney for the commission.
The chief said his son started as a volunteer cadet in his teens and once he finished police school, he became a reserve officer in the village police department, an unpaid position.
“I did not train my son, and I did not approve him to go from reserve to part time. The mistake that I made, and it was just how it was always done, I put in a letter to council that he had completed his training, just like I had done for every other employee ...and he was ready to be moved to a part-time officer,” Beatty said.
In November 2007, the chief’s son became a part-time officer for the village, a position he still holds, in addition to a full-time position at a private prison. In 2009, council requested Solicitor Anthony D’Apolito to review the process to see if the village violated any ethical rules.
“I looked at how hiring was done, and I found that the chief has no power to hire anybody. The chief has no power to even recommend anybody. ... It has to be the mayor who recommends to council to hire. Regardless if it’s the chief’s son, [the chief] did not hire or recommend him to be hired,” D’Apolito said.
He added that the chief has been in law enforcement for more than 30 years and has done “an exemplary job.”
“I think the ethics commission was very satisfied that even if [the chief] had recommended, he did it in open forum. If he was going to try to hide this and try to sneak it through council, he probably wouldn’t do it in an open meeting, on the record and to everybody,” D’Apolito said.
“More importantly, there was no evidence that there was any ethical violations by the chief, by council, by the mayor. Everyone acted above board which is what we’re all supposed to do. ...The mayor made his recommendation, which is really the only one that matters and council hired [Beatty III],” he said.