County commissioners approved the hire of outside counsel to assist the county prosecutor’s defense against a federal civil rights lawsuit against the county commissioners and sheriff.

The contract with Shumaker, approved unanimously after an executive session Tuesday, is capped at $30,000 and will be paid out of the county’s risk management fund.

The lawsuit was filed by three employees at the county’s jail, who say they endured “severe and pervasive sexual harassment” from inmates and that county officials “tolerated and fostered this harassment, exhibiting deliberate indifference to it.”

The suit was filed in June, 2023, by Jennifer Upperco, Melissa St. Pierre, and Kimberly Bailey, who were all formerly employed at the Lucas County Corrections Center. Attorneys for the three women a

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