XENIA – The former Greene County Children Services executive director who was terminated last month filed a civil complaint Tuesday against the agency’s board alleging racism and that the board violated the Ohio Sunshine Law.

The complaint and supporting documents, filed in Greene County Common Pleas Court, requests that the former executive director, Alice Maddox, be reinstated to her position as head of the agency and asks the court to fine the board $500 for each violation of the Ohio Sunshine Law.

It also requests the board pay court costs and attorney fees and monetary damages of $25,000 or more.

“It was not a surprise to us that this came about,” Kathleen “Kathy” Cook, the board chairwoman, said on Tuesday.

An attachment to the civil complaint filed Tuesday included allegations that the board treated Maddox in a derogatory manner because of her race. The attachment, a letter dated May 17 from Maddox’s attorney, John R. Folkerth Jr., of Weprin Fokerth & Routh LLC based in Dayton, addressed to the board chairwoman alleges:

• The board refused to give Maddox a written contract. At the time, its by-laws required the executive director to have one, and the previous executive director, a Caucasian woman, had a contract.

• The board failed to respond to Maddox’s request for policy direction.

• The board decided to place Maddox on a performance improvement plan even though her performance, including the improvements in the agency’s financials, exceeded those of her predecessors who were both Caucasian.

“These and other unjustified and antagonistic actions taken by the board demonstrate the influence of those board members who have been consistently motivated by racial animosity to treat Ms. Maddox with hostility and seek her removal as executive director in deliberate indifference to her known legal rights,” wrote Folkerth.

Folkerth also points to Maddox’s fiscal accomplishments at the agency, noting a 16 percent decrease in expenses last year and a 3 percent decrease the year before.

The May 17 letter states that at the time, Maddox was willing to resolve the matter by resigning from the agency in exchange for 18 months of salary, continued health benefits under COBRA law, a letter of reference and payment of Maddox’s attorney fees.

Cook denied allegations of racism.

“There’s no basis for it,” she said. “Alice is a lovely person. It’s a business decision not a personal decision. I know some people are upset, but we’re on the board not those people.”

The board’s attorney, Marc Fishel, responded to the letter addressed to Cook and denied allegations that the board violated the state Sunshine Law.

Fishel also denied accusations of racial mistreatment regarding Maddox.

The board placed Maddox on administrative leave and asked her to resign during an executive session at a children services board meeting on April 26 without taking a vote, Cook said.

The board said it took the action against Maddox because it wanted to move in a “different direction,” and declined to elaborate on its reason.

“I think that many of us have a hard time understating this new direction,” Maddox said during an interview on Tuesday. “To date, the direction has not been defined. Under my leadership, we drastically reduced the budget, we safely reduced the number of children in care and we put more support in place for staff. If those things were unacceptable, I was never advised to that fact.”

The board voted 5-2 to terminate Maddox on June 26.

The same day Maddox was terminated, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, issued a seven-page opinion that said the board erred when it did not vote on the actions taken against Maddox. The board’s failure to publicly vote rendered their April actions invalid.

The termination of the children services board director came a week after Greene County commissioners voted in favor of conducting an investigation into whether the county’s children services board acted improperly in asking its executive director to resign and placing her on administrative leave.

“It’s a shame it’s come down to this but now we need to step back and let the courts sort things out,” said Rick Perales, the Greene County Board of Commissioners president. “Throughout this process we need to ensure this distraction does not take our focus off the children.”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2208 or sharahn.boykin@coxinc.com.