By Liz Oakes
The Cincinnati Enquirer

ELMWOOD PLACE - Six months after taking office, the mayor of this financially strapped Hamilton County village turned in his resignation and walked out of Wednesday night's council meeting over an anonymous death threat.

In an interview earlier Wednesday, Barney Philpot, 57, said he had returned from town hall three days ago to find a message on his answering machine saying, "You're gonna die tonight."

About 30 people at the meeting listened as Philpot played a tape recording of the message.

According to Philpot's letter, which the clerk of council read at the meeting, his resignation was effective immediately. He then walked out the door.

"Nothing is worth bringing this type of criminal activity to my home," the letter said. The letter added, "I am greatly saddened to conclude my service to this community in this manner."

Philpot said that, before Wednesday night's meeting, he did not know who left the message, but that the call had been traced to Elmwood Place or a surrounding neighborhood.

Elmwood Place Police Chief Patrick Olvey would neither confirm nor deny that police were investigating the threat. But "in situations like the mayor reported, law enforcement has a difficult, if not impossible, task of successfully closing these investigations," Olvey said.

One reason, the chief said, is it's hard to prove who actually made an anonymous threat.

With Philpot's resignation, Vice Mayor Jerry Jones became acting mayor.

Council immediately appointed former Mayor Richard Ellison, 68, to fill the vacant council seat and then elected him the new vice mayor. Ellison was mayor from 1994-99 and 2000-2001.

The previous mayor, Jim Toles, stepped down in November, saying he was tired of political bickering. Mayor-elect Philpot then took office, seven weeks early.

In March, the village's solicitor, Stewart Mathews, also said he was quitting, citing what he called an "extremely dysfunctional" council and complaining that he had not been paid in months.

Philpot said Wednesday that even if the threat was a wrong number or a prank, he's done with politics.

"You don't know if it's serious (call) or not," he said, but his 3- and 4-year-old grandsons visit him twice a week. "I can't take that chance. My family comes first," Philpot said.

As a councilman for eight years before becoming mayor, he said, he never received such a threat.

Philpot said he has supported police layoffs and other cuts to help pay the village's bills, which last fall threatened to put Elmwood Place $100,000 in the red this year.

"I've stepped on toes," Philpot said. "Some people've been upset because I've tightened the strings."

Several council members said before the meeting that the threat surprised them.

Councilwoman Scarlett Monday said it was the first time she had ever heard of a village official getting such a call.

"I'm very disappointed this has happened. No one deserves to be threatened or scared to serve the public," Monday said.

A number of residents said Wednesday they were saddened by the news.

Mae Douglas, 71, who was playing bingo with five other women in the town hall basement after the monthly senior citizens lunch, said she was "very, very shocked."

"I think he's done the best he could with no (village) money," said Douglas, a 47-year resident.

E-mail loakes@enquirer.com