Washington County Commissioner Eddie Place responded to statements made against him during the regular commission meeting Thursday.

During the public discussion portion of the meeting, Marietta City Council President Susan Vessels said Place had written a letter or document to the employees at Little Hocking Water Association during his time on the board, which prompted multiple resignations.

“On Thursday, Aug. 28, I was advised by a source that 80% of the Little Hocking Water Association had resigned,” said Vessels.

She said she met with the commissioners Aug. 28 after the public meeting to discuss her concerns about the injection well permits and it was brought up that Place was once president on the Little Hocking Water Association board. She said when she spoke with them after the public meeting, she found out he was president of the board during the time that 80% of the employees resigned.

“This is a mystery and I want to understand what happened since this should be public information,” she said.

She said Place had mentioned some kind of letter or formal document when she spoke with the commissioners Aug. 28.

“There is no letter and that’s not true, I didn’t write anything,” said Place the day after the meeting.

Vessels said she doesn’t know the content of this document.

During Thursday’s meeting, Vessels said she had put in a public records request to the Little Hocking Water Association for this document.

Prior to filling the vacant spot on the board of commissioners in January, Place had been the president on the Little Hocking Water Association board in 2020. He said he was in that position for less than a year.

Place said he would do things like call the meeting to order and answer questions.

“I resigned because I’m a farmer and I’m a business owner and I was very busy with those things,” he said.

Place has been the owner of Mountaineer Mechanical MOV since 2008.

“I wanted to become a commissioner so that I could do what’s best for the county,” he said. “We want to focus on all of the good things that’re happening here.”

He said he did not have any comments about what Commissioner James Booth said at the end of the public meeting about there being division among the commissioners.

Aside from the comments made during the public meeting Thursday, Commissioners Charlie Schilling and Booth didn’t have any comments about the Little Hocking Water Association.