New Paris Mayor Rick Van Winkle was forced to step down from his position at the Preble County village last year and agreed to never seek public office again after an ethics investigation found he abused his position to benefit his private business -- for a third time, according to a settlement agreement signed by Van Winkle.
Not even Van Winkle’s replacement, current Mayor Kathy Smallwood, knew why he left office in March 2018.“He never gave any reason,” she said.
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This is because, though the settlement agreements are public, there is no public announcement when they’re entered into. The Dayton Daily News obtained them using public records law from the Ohio Ethics Commission.
Van Winkle has been sanctioned three times for ethics violations — once by the ethics commission in 2014, later by a special prosecutor for a different issue in 2014, and most recently by the prosecutor’s office again last year. The first two times he received a public reprimand and ethics training.
The most recent settlement says: “It was alleged, and confirmed by the investigation, that Van Winkle had village employees order two ‘No Commercial Parking’ signs at a cost of $50. Van Winkle directed a village employee to erect the signs in front of his business, without village council approval, to stop a neighboring business owner from parking its vans in front of Van Winkle’s business.”
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Van Winkle agreed to resign, never again hold “any public office, employment or position of trust in this state,” and pay back $50 “in lieu of prosecution,” according to the settlement with the Preble County Prosecutor’s Office signed February 2018.
Ethics commission officials said the penalty was in response to his repeated violations of ethics laws.
Neither Van Winkle nor his attorney returned calls for comment from the Dayton Daily News.
Van Winkle’s first ethics violation occurred when he was a village planning commission member, prior to becoming mayor in 2013. A settlement agreement says he voted against a zoning change that would have allowed a competitor to build storage units similar to those owned by Van Winkle.
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The ethics commission in March 2014 settled the issue with a “public reprimand” and an agreement from Van Winkle to abstain from matters involving his business.
A month later in April 2014, Van Winkle — then mayor — directed a village employee to deliver several hundred pounds of village-owned asphalt mix to his business, according to the findings of a special prosecutor.
Van Winkle entered into another settlement agreement in September 2014, accepting another public reprimand and agreeing to 4.5 hours of ethics training.
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