ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, December 12, 1996 TAG: 9612120026
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: PEARISBURG
SOURCE: CLAYTON BRADDOCK STAFF WRITER
A former Giles County administrator who resigned under fire a year ago claims in a federal lawsuit that the Giles County Board of Supervisors revoked her severance pay package.
Janet E. Tuckwiller said the supervisors acted in retaliation for a letter she wrote criticizing the board in the Pearisburg newspaper and The Roanoke Times.
Tuckwiller, who served as administrator for two years, claims that she was unjustly deprived of $8,000 in severance pay by members of the Board of Supervisors. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Roanoke this fall, seeks damages from the county, the board and its seven members individually.
W.P. Freeman, chairman of the board, said it would not be appropriate for him to respond to Tuckwiller's charges because the issue was in litigation.
Richard Chidester, Giles county attorney, was in court and not available.
But in the county's formal response to the Tuckwiller action, filed this week, Giles made four main arguments in its defense: the Board of Supervisors is immune from such a lawsuit; Tuckwiller didn't exhaust all administrative remedies to her complaint; board members cannot be sued as individuals; and the board did not infringe on Tuckwiller's freedom of speech or expression.
The former administrator is seeking payment for all due severance pay, attorney's fees and costs paid on her behalf, "and other relief as this court deems proper."
Her lawsuit, filed Sept. 20, claims violation of "special civil rights," including free speech, due process and her county personnel contract.
Tuckwiller, who lives in Newport, resigned just weeks before a newly elected Board of Supervisors majority took office. The effectiveness of the county administration was an issue in the November 1995 board elections.
When she resigned in December 1995, Tuckwiller accused some of the incoming board members of various "improprieties and harassment." Her allegations were included in columns published in the Virginian Leader of Pearisburg and the New River Current that month. Although two of the outgoing supervisors were supportive, two supervisors-elect and a re-elected incumbent said Tuckwiller should accept partial responsibility for county financial problems.
Her lawsuit charges that on Dec. 5, 1995, the old board - including lame-duck supervisors - approved Tuckwiller's severance package to include pay through March 31. But in January the new majority of the Giles Board of Supervisors rescinded her severance agreement and benefits effective Feb. 5.
The Board of Supervisor's action was "in direct response" to Tuckwiller's statements published in newspapers, a violation of free speech and exercise of First Amendment rights, including criticism of the board and its members, her lawsuit claims.
The board's unanimous recision of Tuckwiller's severance agreement came without a formal hearing or "any opportunity to be heard on the matter," the lawsuit alleges.
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