KY attorney general investigation finds no grounds to oust Clark school board member

There are not “sufficient grounds” to oust a Clark County school board member, the Kentucky attorney general’s office ruled Monday following an investigation.

Clark school board member Sherry Richardson was the focus of an ethics and conflict of interest complaint to the attorney general regarding her business dealings with the district.

In a Monday letter to Clark school board chair Ashley Ritchie, Assistant Attorney General Jeremy J. Sylvester said “there are not sufficient grounds to institute an ouster action” against Richardson.

A complaint to the attorney general’s office alleged that Richardson should be removed from the school board because she violated state law by engaging in business dealings with a school either as a vendor or subcontractor and her company was paid $85,335.

“We are pleased with the Attorney General’s thorough investigation and resulting conclusion that Ms. Richardson did nothing to violate her oath as a member of the Clark County Board of Education. Ms. Richardson is excited to continue serving the students and parents of Clark County,” Richardson’s attorney Tim Crawford said after the AG released the letter.

On Friday, Richardson and two other board members voted to terminate the board’s current contract with the law firm of Brian Thomas, who filed a February complaint against Richardson with Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office. Richardson had also made a previous motion for board members to interview other law firms. The board on Friday voted to hire a new firm from Mount Sterling.

“When you have an attorney that doesn’t support one of its board members I think that’s an issue,” Richardson said at a Sept. 20 board meeting. “So I would like to make a motion that we go ahead and start the interviews.”

The letter from the Attorney General’s office said that Thomas’ complaint alleged that two separate business dealings involving a business that Richardson co-owned and was the treasurer, Howard’s Overhead Doors, made her ineligible for office under state law.

Kentucky law generally disqualifies a person from serving as a school board member if the person has an interest in the sale of goods or services to the board, but not if the person didn’t have knowledge of the sale, the letter said.

The AGs letter said it does not appear that Richardson had requisite knowledge that would make her an ineligible board member that her company as a subcontractor sold doors to a business called Rising Sun Development Company for the George Rogers Clark High School’s athletic complex. Richardson told AG officials that her husband had responsibility for sales and customer service, while she handled accounts payable and other company financial duties.

Her husband wrote the work orders, generated invoices and remitted them to the school district, the AG found. Richardson attested that she was not aware that the school board approved payment on those invoices at the first school board meeting she attended as a board member in January 2019, the AG said.

The payment was approved as part of a motion to approve all consent agenda items, one of which was the item for approving accounts payable and payroll, which included the relevant payment as one line item among many, the AG determined.

The letter said that Richardson was not aware of the sale of the doors until February 2021 when Thomas contacted the AG’s office.

Howard’s providing overhead doors to the athletic complex did not constitute a disqualifying sale to the board, the AG letter said. Howard’s did not have a contract with the board, it had an agreement with Rising Sun.

The AG letter also said that the office was “unaware of any evidence tending to suggest that Rising Sun and Howard’s had a secret profit-sharing arrangement.’

Howard’s provided estimates to Rising Sun and the board accepted Rising Sun’s bids and contracted with them, before Richardson began her term of office, the AG said.

The Attorney General’s office’s letter said it did not review whether Richardson had a conflict of interest under another provision of state law that deals with breach of ethical standards, also an allegation from Thomas, because it had no authority to remove her for such a violation. The letter said “we understand that Mr. Thomas recommended that the Board refer that issue to the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office.’

Thomas did not immediately comment. Ritchie and board vice-chair William Taulbee had previously voiced concerns about how the move to fire Thomas’ firm was handled. Taulbee didn’t immediately comment Monday.

Ritchie said Monday night that, “I am glad that the AG has finally ruled and hopefully we can now move forward without this lingering any longer and focus solely on the children of this community. “

This story was originally published October 4, 2021 at 3:48 PM.