Wegner | Courtesy of LinkedIn Curry County Assessor Kiley Wegner has levied a formal complaint against Director of County Operations Ted Fitzgerald, accusing him of retaliation, harassment and gender discrimination. The complaint — a tort claim submitted to the Board of Commissioners by Wegner’s attorney — is dated April 8 and requests the Board hire an outside agency to investigate Fitzgerald’s management of the county. The tort claim also puts the Board on notice that Wegner reserves the right to take legal action against Curry County as well as Fitzgerald. It states that Wegner may seek “monetary and injunctive relief including but not exclusive to: non-economic damages, medical expenses, emotional distress, economic damages, attorney fees and punitive damages.” Wegner, who’s also the county tax collector and an elected official, says the Board of Commissioners is not forthcoming with the public. She referred to a May 20 meeting in Brookings and comments Chairman Jay Trost and his colleague Patrick Hollinger made to a constituent when he asked why Fitzgerald hadn’t been at the county annex building or at meetings recently. “What really upsets me was when Jay and Pat sat there in that meeting in Brookings and said Ted was, ‘very much in the annex,’ because that was where I work,” she told Redwood Voice Community News on Wednesday. “We have a letter from Jay saying [Fitzgerald] will be removed and when the public started questioning, they brought him back. I thought that was such a slap in the face to me.” The county assessor also takes issue with a request from Trost that she not discuss the investigation with her fellow elected officials and county employees. When reached for comment, Fitzgerald referred Redwood Voice to the Board of Commissioners, saying it was not appropriate for any county employee to be commenting about another employee. Trost said Wegner’s complaint was about an internal matter and the investigation is ongoing. Fitzgerald, he said, is entitled to employee protections Wegner as an elected official doesn’t have. Trost said he asked Wegner not to discuss the investigation since it is a “confidential personnel matter.” “I need to protect the county from being sued by an employee because one of our elected officials is acting as a protected elected official,” he told Redwood Voice on Thursday. “If her complaint was against me or another elected [official], it’s all fair game.” In an email to Redwood Voice on Wednesday, Trost said that Wegner “may have just violated” the employment protections Fitzgerald is entitled to. Wegner said her attorney, Sean J. Riddell, who is based in Portland, told her that as an elected official she can speak with whoever she wanted to. In a comment to Redwood Voice, Riddell referred Trost to Oregon’s public records laws and the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. From left to right: Former commissioner Brad Alcorn, Director of Operations Ted Fitzgerald, current Board Chairman Jay Trost | Courtesy of Curry County Wegner has been the county assessor and tax collector for about three years. Her staff consists of four appraisers, a deputy assessor, an assistant tax collector and a clerical assistant. According to the tort claim Riddell filed on his client’s behalf, as an elected official Wagner has appointing authority over her staff. This means that she doesn’t need to get Fitzgerald’s approval when it comes to scheduling the people who work under her. Since he was hired as county counsel in 2022, Fitzgerald has served as the county director of operations, the road master and planning director, according to the county' s 2025-26 budget. In the tort claim, Riddell outlines several inappropriate statements Fitzgerald allegedly made to Wegner, including that her presence at a meeting was to “‘doll up the place,’” that she should go home and “‘feed little Ted,’” and that a gift of blueberries on her desk was Fitzgerald “‘looking out for my little Ted’” — implying that Wegner’s child was Fitzgerald’s, according to the complaint. In September 2024, Fitzgerald told Wegner that her staff would work a four-day-a-week 10-hour-a-day schedule despite the appointing authority she held over her employees. According to the complaint, Fitzgerald’s actions were in violation of a memorandum of understanding between the county and the union representing Wegner’s staff. Though Wegner established a five-day-a-week eight-hour-a-day schedule, at Fitzgerald’s suggestion her staff were permitted to have a flexed schedule of 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. At one point in September, according to the complaint, one of Wegner’s employees requested to work a four-day-a-week 10-hour-a-day schedule temporarily “due to a hardship.” Fitzgerald had granted an employee in a different department the same accommodation. The employee emailed both Fitzgerald and the finance director at the time, Keina Wolf, and asked for the accommodation, forwarding a copy to Wegner. Request for Investigation_Tort Claim Notice (Wegner)Download The complaint states that Wegner spoke with Fitzgerald on the phone about the issue and that Fitzgerald “threatened to act against Wegner for advocating for her employee,” but doesn’t specify what the threat was. “Following this incident Ms. Wegner was justifiably confused and frustrated,” the tort claim states. “She felt as though she had no clear understanding of the hierarchy in the county. After inquiring on this issue on October 3, 2024, Mr. Fitzgerald yelled at Wegner stating, ‘I am in charge! If you ever have a question about who’s in charge, it’s me!’” Fitzgerald’s alleged inappropriate conduct toward her continued in November with a text on Nov. 15, which read “‘I hope you went home to your handsome husband you were still there at 4:30,’” according to the complaint. Finally, after Wegner spoke to the Board of Commissioners on Dec. 19 in opposition to a long-term contract with Wolf as the county’s finance director, she received an email from Fitzgerald stating that her staff would be moved to an 8 a.m.-5 p.m. schedule. Wegner responded by saying that she would only speak about Fitzgerald’s decision to change the schedule in a public meeting. “Mr. Fitzgerald did not respond until January 17, 2025, indicating that her staff needed to be moved to the 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. schedule [sic],” Riddell wrote. “Ms. Wegner responded by copying the Board asking for advisement [sic] and indicating that she felt she was being retaliated against, and that Mr. Fitzgerald was overreaching his authority. Ms. Wegner [said she] respects the authority of the Board and was simply looking for guidance on the appropriate protocols to follow. She has not yet heard back.” The day after Riddell submitted the tort claim, Trost sent him and Wegner an email April 9 stating that the county would be investigating Fitzgerald’s alleged misconduct and that he would perform his director of operations duties remotely. “We are in the process of retaining county counsel services while this investigation is ongoing,” Trost told them. “CIS [the county’s insurance representative] has been notified and this will be investigated per county policy.” But on May 20, at the Board of Commissioners meeting in Brookings, Curry County resident Andre Bay said he saw writing on the bathroom wall in the county annex building that said Fitzgerald wasn’t allowed at the building “due to a conflict of some sort.” Trost said those were rumors. “He’s 100 percent in the annex. He works in and out at all times,” Trost said. “He obviously oversees quite a few different areas, so there’s no validity to that rumor.” Hollinger also chimed in, stating that during the Dec. 19 meeting, Wolf, who has since left her job as Curry County finance director, was exposed to direct attacks during the discussion regarding her employment contract. Hollinger said that he and his colleagues felt that county employees should be shielded from political attacks. “We discussed that with [Fitzgerald] and we left that ball in his court,” Hollinger said. “If he chose to attend, obviously he has the opportunity to have public attacks and if he chooses not to, then he does not need to come here.” On June 2, 2025, Trost physically delivered a letter to Wegner, stating that the Board of Commissioners had hired Mountain Lakes Employment Investigations LLC to investigate her allegations against Fitzgerald. “To maintain the integrity of the investigation, we are requesting that you refrain from discussing the investigation with your fellow employees or any other party, including elected officials,” Trost stated. In addition to feeling that the Board of Commissioners disregarded her comfort and feelings, Wegner said she thinks they lied to the public on May 20. “When people were asking where Ted was, the best most transparent thing they could have said [was] ‘allegations were made about Mr. Fitzgerald and we’re looking forward to clearing his name,’” she said. “That’s the honest answer and you’re not saying too much. They straight up lied to people and I have the email to prove it.” Wegner said she also felt Trost’s request that she not speak about the investigation to any employee or elected official was laughable. She referred to Hollinger’s statement at a June 4 Board meeting when he defended himself against accusations from the Oregon State Sheriff’s Association executive director that he had recorded a presentation he gave at an Association of Oregon Counties event without his knowledge or consent. On June 4, Hollinger said OSSA and Curry County Sheriff John Ward were attempting to intimidate and silence him. Wegner said Wednesday that by asking her not to discuss her complaint against Fitzgerald and the investigation with others, the Board of Commissioners is trying to intimidate and silence her. “I’m just as important as they are,” she said. “We were put here by the people and it’s not lost on me that I work for the people.”