COLUMBUS — Franklin County Commissioner Erica Crawley blasted the county inspector general on Tuesday over his handling of a complaint about police response at a concert, while also announcing she has reimbursed the county $1,420 for parking tickets incurred on a county vehicle used by her office.
Crawley said the parking citations were incurred on a county vehicle used by her office in 2023 and 2024, including some citations she did not personally incur. The reimbursement followed questions raised last week by Ken Kuebler, a former Columbus deputy chief of police, who alleged on social media that Crawley had incurred thousands of dollars in Columbus parking tickets on her county vehicle and that the county had paid for them.
Crawley said in a prepared statement released Oct. 6 that she had previously asked about the citations and was told reimbursement was not necessary. A county spokesperson confirmed that Deputy County Administrator Kris Long was the county employee who told Crawley she did not have to repay the parking tickets. Franklin County Administrator Kenneth Wilson said an erroneous interpretation of county policy led the county to use public money to pay parking violations for some county vehicles without requiring employees to reimburse the county.
Wilson said the county regrets the oversight and that going forward, without exception, all parking violation fees will be paid for by county employees. “We regret this oversight and I am pleased we were ultimately able to resolve this without any expense to the county,” Wilson said. Separately, Crawley criticized the standards applied in the inspector general’s review of her concert police complaint, saying the systems in place “must protect every Black resident of this city, whether or not they hold office.”
