Huron County Sheriff Kent Tibbits will not resign his position, his attorney, Julie Gafkay, said. Tibbits came under scrutiny for allegedly misusing his county owned vehicle.

The decision came after the commissioners met last week, with and without Tibbits to make a determination of allegations that he misused his county owned vehicle that is assigned to him.

He did appear before the board to answer questions and read a statement addressing questions that were presented to him by the board.

After which time the Board of Commissioners went into closed session to discuss the "pending litigation" as stated by Board Chair Robert Haldane.

Again on Tuesday, at the commissioners regular meeting, they went into closed session, stating pending litigation, to discuss the matter further and later requested the sheriff to appear for a reading of a resolution.

"But there was no pending litigation, there is no such litigation," said Gafkay.

She added, "The reason they said that is because they needed something to go into closed session; the law reads they have to be open."

The resolution dated June 10 and signed by all the commissioners, requests the Sheriff to reimburse the county $7,614 for motor vehicle usage, to park his assigned vehicle and use it only for official county business, have all out-of-county travel preapproved by the Commissioner's Safety Committee and tender his resignation by June 24.

But now there's a new twist. Tibbits has filed suit in Huron County Circuit Court alleging the Huron County Board of Commissioners violated the Open Meetings Act.

"He wanted the public to hear his response and ask questions," said Gafkay. She added, "He was never a party to either closed session."

According to Gafkay, Tibbits is the one that could have requested a closed session, however did not.

During the meeting of June 9, Haldane refused to start the meeting until the room was basically cleared, due to fire code safety measures, limiting the capacity to 15 people.

"This was a way for the commissioners to attack my client," said Gafkay.

However, Huron County Corporate Counsel Steve Allen doe not feel the board violated the closed meeting Act.

"MCL 15.268 enumerated the purposed a public body can go into closed session; if Sheriff Kent Tibbits wanted a closed session he would have requested it; he did not and would not have requested it," said Gafkay. "He wants the public to partake in the process, even though he could have met in secret."

As to the resignation request, Allen and Gafkay basically agree that the Huron County Board of Commissioners cannot remove Tibbits from office.

When Allen was asked if the Board of Commissioners can remove Tibbits from office, he said, "My opinion is no, there is a separate statue that allows the Governor to remove him from office."

"They cannot ask Sheriff Kent Tibbits to resign, and he will not resign; the citizens voted for him to be Sheriff and that is what he will do, 24 hours a day, seven days a week," explained Gafkay.

She added, "It is almost like they want to take him out of public view during this year's election."

Allen stated, "The Board will have to make a decision of what they will do; they asked for his resignation, but they cannot require it, but they can request the Governor to remove him from office."

The law suit was to be heard yesterday in Huron County Circuit Court by Judge Teeple. No decision could be made prior to press time.