Franklin County Commissioner Erica Crawley reimbursed the county this week a total of $1,421 for parking tickets involving vehicles the commissioners' office used.
The county emailed WOSU copies of a cashier's check and a money order Crawley used to reimburse the county.
Sixteen parking citations were issued in 2023 and 2024, including a $580 citation in June 2024. A county spokeswoman said she doesn't know the details behind that citation. Vehicles were available for Crawley and her staff to use.
Franklin County Commissioners' spokesperson Molly Thrasher said in a statement Thursday that the county does not have records that go back that far to tell who incurred the tickets. "However, as Commissioner Crawley frequently used the cars, she has accepted the costs associated with all of the tickets," Thrasher said.
At Tuesday's commissioner's meeting, County Administrator Ken Wilson said because of an erroneous interpretation of policy, county funds were used to pay parking infractions for vehicles on county business.
Wilson said the county regretted the oversight.
Thrasher said in the statement: "For county elected officials, utilizing county vehicles, for county business, our interpretation was that the county would pay. That was an erroneous interpretation, for which we apologize, and reimbursement has been made. We were wrong and we apologize."
During Tuesday's meeting, Crawley referred to the tickets as part of "attempts to make a number of unrelated matters part of a larger narrative about my character."
"But somewhere in all that noise, some have lost sight about how all this began," she said.
Crawley was referring to a Sept. 25 statement she released about the treatment she received at a July 2 Salute250 concert featuring Post Malone at Historic Crew Stadium.
Crawley recently filed a complaint with the Columbus Department of the Inspector General over how Columbus police officers allegedly treated her and her guests at the concert for veterans.
Crawley claimed officers confronted her and others who were in a VIP section. Crawley obtained six VIP tickets to the show. At the time, officers stated she was trespassing in that section. The promoter later said that Crawley and her guests had access to that lounge.
WOSU and other outlets reported that the inspector general prepared a draft letter on Sept. 23 asking the Ohio Ethics Commission to investigate Crawley over the tickets.
The inspector general forwarded the draft letter to WOSU and other media outlets without initially clarifying that it hadn't actually been sent to the ethics commission.
WOSU has asked the inspector general's office if the letter has been sent.
