“I believe that… perhaps councilmen Louderback and Caupp had no ill intention when they started this venture, but I agree that the facts and the timeline of events and engagements speak for themselves,” said Xenia City Council President Michael Engle. “Section 4.08 of the city charter was breached.”
The city charter prohibits council members from having an “interest” in any contract, job, work or service related to the city. Any city contract where a council member has an interest or becomes interested could be voided by the council.
Engle said he did not know what would happen next or how the penalty would be executed.
Monday night’s vote came after five hours of testimony, on the third day of the hearing, from council members and staff. Caupp and Louderback did not testify under the advice of their attorney.
Near the end of Monday night’s hearing, every council member was allowed to make a short statement before the vote. Caupp and Louderback maintained their innocence.
“We were offered an opportunity to invest in this community to make this community better,” Caupp said.
Louderback called the inquiry a joke and noted the council, who voted for the hearing, was also responsible for making a decision about whether he and Louderback violated the charter and the penalty they should receive.
“We’ve done nothing wrong,” Louderback said. “We’ve never voted on anything to do with this project.”
Most council members agreed the ethics issue has caused tension and led to a divide in the community.
“There’s been a lot of damage to the city and there’s been a lot of finger pointing and I think those that are involved need to look at themselves and what they’ve done,” Xenia City Councilman Wesley Smith said. “Be grown ups about the situation.”
The inquiry was initiated almost a month after the city council voted to hold the hearing. Council voted for the ethics hearing after Caupp and Louderback disclosed, in February, they planned to invest money and accept jobs with a developer who was planning to build an entertainment center in the city. At the time, the city was working on a deal to sell the land it owned, where the entertainment center would be located, to the developer.
The proposed center would include a bowling alley, laser tag arena and sports bar. The project also included plans to convert the former Kmart building into a movie theater.
In addition to the city ethics inquiry, the Ohio Ethics Commission and Ohio Auditor are investigating the councilmen.
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