Local
Prior to vote on new mayor, some councilmembers were informed of alleged misconduct by Perkins
Tiffin, Ohio — Ahead of a special meeting on Monday in which Tiffin City Council elected at-large Councilmember Zack Perkins to fulfill the remainder of former Mayor Aaron Montz’s term, some councilmembers received information regarding previous incidents of alleged misconduct by Perkins.
At Tiffin resident sent an email to Councilmembers Ken Jones, Vickie Wilkins, and Steve Lepard ahead of the July 11 meeting to inform them of concerns regarding then-Councilmember Perkins, who on Tuesday abruptly resigned from council effective immediately and declined the position of mayor.
Zack Perkins (Contributed Photo)
TiffinOhio.net has obtained one of the emails sent to some councilmembers prior to Monday’s meeting.
In the email, the author said they had witnessed two alleged incidents of misconduct involving Perkins.
While Perkins was working as a fitness supervisor at the YMCA, he was fired for having an affair with an instructor while he was married, the author of the email wrote.
In another incident, the author of the email said Perkins was accused of sexual misconduct by a female employee while he was working in a management role at a local restaurant. Perkins wasn’t fired, so his accuser filed a lawsuit against the restaurant, costing the business a “substantial sum,” according to the email’s author.
A summary of the situation began circulating on social media Tuesday evening, including in a comment made on a local Facebook page by a Tiffin woman.
“Prior to the July 11 special meeting of City Council, correspondence was circulated to council members citing some very serious concerns about then councilman Zack Perkins. One email included both first and second hand accounts of misconduct, some of the sexual nature,” the woman’s Facebook comment states. “Many community members are deeply disturbed that these statements were not addressed by council during the two public opportunities to do so. It is clear that most, if not all members of City Council were aware of these allegations and deliberately chose to do nothing. No investigations were made, nor any probative discussion was had.”
Councilmember Dan Perry replied to that comment from his personal Facebook account, stating that the email “was only sent to 3 members of council” prior to the meeting, and that he was not one of the councilmembers who received it.
Wednesday morning, Nick Dutro, director of communications for the city, released a statement regarding the email sent to councilmembers.
“The afternoon of July 11, prior to the 6 p.m. special meeting of city council, an email containing allegations concerning Perkins was sent to three councilmembers. The letter was not discussed during Monday night’s special meeting. The letter was not shared prior to the meeting with Acting Mayor Bridget Boyle or any member of the city administration,” Dutro said.
TiffinOhio.net has reached out to councilmembers and Perkins for comment. No response has been received.
This is a developing story. Check back here for updates.
