The settlement agreement was approved by council earlier this month.
Farley claims that from October 2022 to December 2023, the New Lebanon village council unlawfully met in executive session a total of 14 times by failing to adhere to the Ohio Revised Code’s Open Meetings Act, which limits the scope of discussion topics allowable within the sessions.
Farley’s claim asserts council entered into these private meetings to discuss Farley himself, more specifically about a plan to arrest Farley, who had been publicly critical of the village administration, often addressing the municipality directly during public comment segments of meetings.
“The unlawful discussion was about how Joshua Farley threatened to sue the village and how to arrest him if he became disruptive,” court documents state.
The claim alleges this discussion occurred during the Feb. 7, 2023 council executive session. Farley was arrested later in the meeting, though charges against him were ultimately dropped.
The timeframe referenced within Farley’s claim predates the village’s current administration, as current Mayor David Nickerson and outgoing village administrator Rob Anderson were not seated until January 2024 and February 2024, respectively.
At the time of Farley’s allegations, former mayor Raymond Arriola and former administrator Glena Madden were in office.
Nickerson unseated Arriola in the November 2023 election, and Madden was part of the March 2024 firings of several village leaders, including former police chief Curtis Hensley, who is specifically named in Farley’s claim.
This month’s council resolution approving the agreement with Farley asserts the settlement is in the best interest of the village.
“... (T)he parties to the litigation wish to avoid the time and expense of further litigation and have reached a resolution of all matters in dispute,” the resolution reads, further stipulating the settlement does not serve as an “admission of liability on the part of the village.”
Farley filed the claim against the village in September 2024, as part of a lawsuit in which he and the village are co-defendants.
Former police chief Hensley in August 2024 filed suit against Farley, along with village attorney Michael McNamee, Nickerson, Anderson and council members Nicole Adkins, Timothy Back and Melissa Sexton.
Hensley’s suit is in reference to his March 2024 firing. In it, he alleges Farley, in retaliation for his February 2023 arrest, had colluded with Nickerson and McNamee in planning Hensley’s termination.
Hensley has since removed Farley as a defendant in the litigation, which is still ongoing.
However, Farley filed sanctions against the former police chief this month, claiming Hensley’s suit against him had served only “to harass and retaliate against him for engaging in constitutionally protected speech.”
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