BY RICHELLE THOMPSON
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON -- Three months after Mayor James Mills alleged his fellow council members and city staff were racist, the complaints have never been investigated.
The reason: Mr. Mills has not filed the appropriate paperwork with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission, spokeswoman Drema Brown said Monday.
For the commission to investigate, Mr. Mills had to file a formal complaint, which he never did, Ms. Brown said.
On Monday, Mr. Mills refused to say whether he intends to file a formal complaint.
"It just depends," he said. "I don't have to tell you."
Mr. Mills said problems of racism persist. Council members don't talk to him outside of meetings, he said, which he considers an indicator of racism.
"As long as these people (council members) keep acting the way they're acting, I'm not going to strip myself of everything that protects me," Mr. Mills said.
He lodged a racial discrimination complaint against council members and city staff in June with the Dayton chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The complaint was to stave off any attempts by other council members to remove Mr. Mills from the ceremonial position of mayor, NAACP President Jessie Gooding said.
Essentially the complaint was filed "because they were trying to move (Mr. Mills) out of his job," Mr. Gooding said.
The NAACP sent a letter to the attorney general's office, which forwarded it to the appropriate agency, the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. Ms. Brown said the commission received the letter, but it only informed the agency of "the situation," she said.
"We have to have an individual come in and file a charge, and that's how the process starts."
Mr. Mills lodged the complaint two days before council was expected to reorganize, a move which could have meant the board would vote on a new mayor. Elected by fellow council members in December to serve a two-year term, Mr. Mills is the first black mayor in Lebanon's history.
At that point, he insisted race was not an issue in a city that is predominantly white. According to the 1990 census figures, 3 percent of the city's then-10,500 residents were African-American. Monday, he told a reporter: "Any time a black person is in power, all you people do is try to thwart him and get him down."
Mr. Mills and fellow Councilman Mark Flick also filed a lawsuit against city council, seeking to keep it from reorganizing. A judge ruled on their behalf, but other council members decided to appeal the ruling. The appeal is pending at the 12th District Court of Appeals in Middletown.
