By John Kiesewetter
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Bob Shelley

LIBERTY TWP. - Township Trustee David Kern says longtime colleague Bob Shelley should resign as trustee, after allegations he violated Butler County's sexual harassment policy.

"I think it would be in our (the township's) best interest for him to resign," Kern said Friday. "It's a terrible embarrassment for the township - and himself."

Shelley, 63, was suspended March 11 - for a second time in three months - from his job as Solid Waste District manager at the county's Department of Environmental Services. His December suspension came with a final warning that he would be immediately terminated if he violated the sexual harassment policy again, according to his county personnel file.

Shelley could not be reached for comment. His wife, Yvonne, on Friday blamed politics for her husband's problems at the county job, and with Trustees Christine Matacic and Kern.

"It's all politics. He's been through hell at the township," Yvonne Shelley said. "They want him out of there (the township). They've been very unkind to him. Dave and Chris decide everything that goes on, and on rare occasions they call him."

She said she and her husband could not discuss the March incident until the situation was resolved. She said she did not know if he had resigned his $61,772 county position, or attended a Tuesday afternoon predisciplinary hearing. County Administrator Derek Conklin said Thursday that he was expecting a resignation letter from Shelley.

On Dec. 22, Shelley was suspended without pay for accessing inappropriate Internet sites on his computer, according to his personnel file. He was suspended again in March after a female subordinate complained he "made a number of inappropriate comments," in violation of the county policy prohibiting unwelcome or inappropriate comments of a sexual nature, according to his file.

"He's not been found guilty of anything," Yvonne Shelley said Friday.

Matacic, acting township administrator and trustees president, said the county prosecutor's office told her Friday that the township could take no action against Shelley.

"There's nothing that we're going to do. It's a county issue," she said. When asked if he should step down as trustee, Matacic said: "I'm not going to comment."

E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com