The Ontario County Board of Supervisors has called on Ontario County Sheriff Kevin Henderson to resign, something he says in a statement he won’t do.
According to statements released on Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors says the county’s anonymous tip line received complaints late last year which led to the hiring of an outside council, and an investigation through this year into operations within the sheriff’s office. The statement from the Board of Supervisors said the months-long investigation reported “poor leadership, lack of integrity and low employee morale with the office.”
Published reports say comments were made of a sexual, racial and homophobic nature.
In his own statement, Sheriff Henderson said county officials had “scrutinized the handling of certain internal HR and administrative matters” within his office. That led to a meeting with the Board of Supervisors Chairman Jack Marren, during which “the sheriff was asked, under threat of retaliation to resign the office of sheriff by a deadline of this week.”
Following that meeting, the sheriff’s statement says his undersheriff resigned, but Sheriff Henderson said he has no plans of doing so.
The Board of Supervisors on Wednesday named an investigative committee to examine the concerns raised in the independent counsel’s report. It also formed a task force to begin moving the Ontario County 911 Emergency Communications Division out of the Sheriff’s Office.