New city manager takes office in North College Hill after 2 resignations this year

CINCINNATI (WXIX) – North College Hill has a new city manager after two departures this year.

She is former City Councilor Arious DukesDean and her first day on the job was Monday, Mayor Tracie Nichols announced at Monday night’s City Council meeting.

“I would like to welcome and introduce our new city administrator, Ms. Arious DukesDean,” the mayor said.

“We had time…we had an interim (city manager), we had time without him and we had a team that worked together to fill the position. So the time has come and Ms. DukesDean has graciously agreed to be our Town Administrator and she started today.

“Thank you for the welcome and I’m just happy to be here,” DukesDean said during his speech at the meeting.

“I am happy to serve our city. I’m excited to get to work, roll up my sleeves, and commit to helping the city get to where it needs to be. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me or use my phone number. I take all calls and answer them as diligently as possible.

DukesDean told FOX19 NOW last week that his resignation from the council had nothing to do with issues surrounding the departure of two city managers this year — including one who resigned last month — after the auditor’s office State launched an investigation into how public money was spent.

DukesDean served as chair of the city’s Budget and Finance Committee before resigning in late September before her term ended, according to city records. She is one of three city council members who resigned this year.

Jennifer Ekey resigned in March after a little more than a year on the job in this western Hamilton County town of just under 10,000 residents.

She resigned after a dispute over control and access to North College Hill firefighter funds and pensions led to the departure of about 75 percent of the firefighters, 15 firefighters, including the then-fire chief who has since also left town.

All but one of the firefighters rescinded their resignations before it took effect with Ekey’s departure.

Ekey will continue to receive his $110,000 annual salary and benefits through the end of this year, per his separation agreement. She also took her accrued and unused sick and vacation leave.

His separation agreement required the mayor to write a “letter of reference and indicate that the employee has worked diligently to correct deficiencies in the city’s financial reporting audits,” according to a copy of the public record. “The mayor’s reference letter must further indicate that the policies and procedures implemented by the employee will serve the City well in the future. This will be the City’s sole response to any inquiry regarding the employee’s employment. No further information will be provided to potential employees.

The contract also has a disparagement clause preventing all parties from saying anything negative about each other in any form of communication.

“Employees and the City must not denigrate each other, nor the members of the Council, the decisions, current, past or future employees, nor the actions and investigations of the administration or employees of the City,” indicates -on.

An interim city manager was brought in to help in August, but she resigned Nov. 18 before her contract expired.

Elishia Chamberlain’s letter announcing she was ending her contract early criticized the way North College Hill managed its finances, according to a copy provided to FOX19 NOW via a public records request.

Mayor Nichols rejected the allegations, saying Chamberlain didn’t want to follow the way the city was doing things and attributed that in part to a “personality conflict” with the city’s finance director, Jeanetta Anderson.

Chamberlain told FOX19 NOW last week, “I stand by the contract termination notice that I submitted. All of the issues listed were valid concerns that no one would provide me with a proper answer or explanation for.

Chamberlain said she doesn’t have access to all of the city’s funds, something Anderson denied in an interview with FOX19 NOW last week that new city manager DukesDean participated in.

Chamberlain also told FOX19 NOW there was a refusal to attempt to comply with financial management practices.

“The reason I chose to terminate the contract was due to being asked to participate in activities that I considered to be absolutely unethical and concerns about the legality,” he said. -she declared.

Mayor Nichols, the CFO and DukesDean disputed this allegation during our interview last week and the mayor said it was time for the city to move forward.

“As a city, we are working hard to rebuild and we will rebuild. Our citizens can be confident that the administration is working hard to put the right practices and people in place to build a better and stronger North College Hill,” the mayor told FOX19 NOW on November 25.

Monday evening, DukesDean told the city council that while there were some issues and issues to be resolved, North College Hill was in good financial shape.

She said the city had received a “health check” for two consecutive years from the Audit Office: 2022 and 2023.

“The reason we didn’t get it for 2024 is because it’s not due yet,” DukesDean told the city council. “We always hear that our finances are crazy and unbalanced, but these state auditors stepped in and this is where we are. This is proof positive of what our finances look like.

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