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County commissioners stay mum about settlement of lawsuit by fired nursing home administrator

Patriot-News - 11/2/2018

Nov. 01--Former Cumberland County Commissioner Rick Rovegno went to a meeting of the current board Thursday to discuss the settlement of a federal lawsuit.

Yet even as he began speaking about that case, lodged by fired nursing home administrator Karen DeWoody, he was told that conversation wasn't going to happen.

Commissioners must remain mum about the undisclosed DeWoody settlement because it is a personnel matter, county Solicitor Keith Brenneman said.

"You are aware that the commissioners cannot and will not do anything as a result of anything you will tell them," Brenneman told Rovegno.

DeWoody filed her civil rights suit against the county in 2016, nearly two years after she was fired. She claimed she was wrongly terminated for complaining about her immediate supervisor, Chief Clerk Larry Thomas, who is no longer with the county. She accused Thomas of creating a hostile work environment.

County officials replied to the suit by saying DeWoody was axed for poor decision making. They cited an August 2014 incident where a nursing home resident was accidentally left out in the sun for hours.

DeWoody and the county settled the case through mediation this past May, records in U.S. Middle District Court show.

During Thursday's meeting, Rovegno lauded DeWoody's professionalism. She didn't prompt him to do that, he said, nor did she even know he was coming to the meeting.

"Karen DeWoody, in my opinion, was an outstanding employee," Rovegno said. He said that when a resident was near death "Karen would take the time to sit with them just to make sure they knew someone cared."

"When she left the county's employment it was an unfortunate circumstance," he added.

He said he disagreed with Brenneman's insistence that the outcome of the legal battle over DeWoody's dismissal must remain confidential. Other personnel matters, such as hirings and pay raises, are public record, he noted.

"The taxpayers have a right to know what they're buying and how much it costs," Rovegno said.

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