The former restaurateur has agreed to pay $132,000 in restitution to RTA, which represents a portion of the health insurance premiums he never paid for.
“Mr. Dixon abused the public’s trust for personal benefit,” said Westlake Mayor and current RTA Board President Dennis Clough, in a statement provided to the media. “We are encouraged to see that justice is being served. We do not tolerate abuse of taxpayer money, and we have controls in place to prevent this from happening again.”
Dixon resigned at RTA’s request in March of 2018 after an internal investigation found that he had not been paying health insurance premiums since he enrolled in 1994. After Dixon’s resignation, RTA altered its policy. Trustees are no longer eligible for health insurance through RTA.
The restitution that Dixon has agreed to pay is only a portion of a total $1.1 million in benefits and unpaid premiums. RTA says that it’s pursuing the remainder through insurance claim recovery.
The Dixon scandal preceded a wave of turmoil at RTA, which rocked its highest levels of leadership. After Dixon’s ignominious departure, HR Director Bruce Hampton was suspended for his role in abetting the insurance theft. Hampton later retired and maintained that he’d informed General Manager Joe Calabrese that Dixon was not paying his premiums.
The board then politely invited Calabrese to retire, fed up with what they viewed as his lack of transparency. Calabrese was given an advisory role to soften the blow, but he ditched it a year earlier than was planned to take on a private sector position with a New Jersey transit company.
Last month, the RTA board voted to accept India Birdsong as the next GM/CEO, following an interim period in which operations director Floun’say Caver served in the agency’s top role.
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This article appears in Jul 24-30, 2019.
Just a slap on the wrist for the amount of $1.1 million he should not only have to pay back, but get a lengthy jail sentence for as well!!! Only in Corruptahoga County can thieves get away with practically anything these days!!!
In the meantime, do we still know what six-figure salary the new RTA CEO will be getting??? And Im sure there will be be a $ale$ tax levy on the ballot for RTA in November, just you wait and see!!!