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.”

_{Thumbnail photo: George H. Washington lived on a mining claim near the Siskiyou Fork of the Smith River — where Bar-O Boys Ranch would be established — from 1894 to his death in 1927. His family say he’s buried on the 34-acre property | Photo courtesy of the Del Norte County Historical Society}

With one supervisor noting that Del Norte County doesn’t have the means to maintain the 35-acre property, the Board on Tuesday took a step closer to preparing the former Bar-O Boys Ranch for sale.

Their unanimous decision to modify a contract with Public Square Real Estate to determine if a Surplus Lands Act designation for Bar-O would be appropriate is not listing the property for sale yet. But it still prompted Jane Miller to show supervisors a photo of a gravesite that belongs to her great great great grandfather, George Washington.

“He’s buried at Bar-O Boys Ranch and we just heard about the sale of the property being proposed today like an hour ago,” she said. “This man helped build the road … between Cave Junction and here for us to travel [on] and I just want to make sure his grave site is protected if you’re selling the land.”