Commission votes to uphold Ramsey firing in closed meeting

Published 9:49 am Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Limestone County Commissioners voted in a closed meeting Monday to uphold the firing of a former Limestone County sheriff’s investigator.

Near the end of their regular meeting, commissioners entered an executive session — a private session — to discuss Leslie Ramsey, an official said. Sheriff Mike Blakely had fired Ramsey in September, a decision she appealed the decision to the county commission.

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Before commissioners entered the private session, County Attorney Mark Maclin announced commissioners would be discussing a personnel matter and possible litigation — two of nine reasons a body can discuss public business in private under Alabama law. Maclin said at the time commissioners would not be voting on what they discussed once they emerged from the executive session. Although Maclin said this, it would have been acceptable for commissioners to change their minds and decide to vote after all, though voting must be done publicly.

Commission Chairman Colin Daly told The News Courier Monday commissioners did not vote after the executive session. Multiple sources, who asked not to be identified, said commissioners agreed in the executive session to uphold Ramsey’s firing.

Under the law, commissioners should have returned to the open meeting and voted publicly on the matter before adjourning the meeting. They would not have been required to state the name of the person they were voting on because it is a personnel matter.

Maclin could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

The case

In January, Ramsey filed suit against the sheriff’s office in federal court. The veteran investigator claims she was demoted and disciplined after filing a complaint alleging Chief Deputy Fred Sloss sexually assaulted her during a social occasion at his house in January 2017. Ramsey said she and her boyfriend were visiting Sloss’ house when she went outside for a cigarette and Sloss groped her.

Specifically, the lawsuit claims, while she and Sloss were alone in his driveway, he “swiped his hand several times between (her) legs, across her chest and crotch, and along the outside of her clothes.”

The lawsuit also claims Sloss grabbed her and asked if her boyfriend told her how beautiful she was, asked her to show him her breasts and offered to promote her to captain if she gave in to his sexual advances, which she refused.

Her case is scheduled for trial in September 2020.

Blakely fired Ramsey on Sept. 24, an action her attorney, Philip M. DeFatta, claimed was unlawful. Ramsey appealed the firing.

DeFatta could not be reached for comment Tuesday.