by Logan Andrew | FreeWire Magazine — Your News, Your Voice
July 24, 2025
Bucyrus Council President Kurt Fankhauser has filed a civil lawsuit against the city and four current officials, escalating what appears to be a personal dispute into yet another legal headache for city taxpayers.
Filed July 22 in Crawford County Common Pleas Court under case number 25 CV 0183, the suit names the City of Bucyrus along with Law Director Brandon Gobrecht, Councilwoman Clarissa Slater, Auditor Kali Lewis, and auditor’s office staffer Kim Felkey. Judge Sean Leuthold recused himself the following day, sending the case to the Ohio Supreme Court for the appointment of a visiting judge.
While the complaint has not yet been made public, it’s widely believed the case stems from a conflict over whether outgoing Council Clerk Miranda Wise was allowed to take her remaining week of paid time off. According to multiple sources and a public video posted by Fankhauser himself, he denied the PTO—but city officials approved it anyway.
In that same video, posted directly to the City Council’s official Facebook page, Fankhauser openly states that he refused to authorize the time off. He also appears to have removed all other page administrators, disabling comments and ensuring no one could object or correct him.
Because Gobrecht is named in the lawsuit, the city will again be forced to hire outside legal counsel—just as it did earlier this year when Fankhauser filed a residency challenge against Gobrecht and subpoenaed other city officials to testify. At that time, the city had to retain separate legal representation for those involved.
A source with knowledge of the situation tells FreeWire the litigation is expected to cost the city "tens of thousands of dollars."
This latest lawsuit, if it is indeed about a week of earned leave, raises questions about Fankhauser’s use of his office to litigate internal disputes—and how far he’s willing to go to assert control over routine administrative matters.
FreeWire has requested a copy of the complaint and will report further once additional filings are made available.
This is disgusting. He just keeps traumatizing this city. It’s the side of “the righteous or the cover up”. There is no cover up for this situation. He traumatizes everyone that gets near him. Whether they work for him or simply exist in his “world”, it’s agree with me or pay the penalty. Also, please release the video he states “never happened”.
Kurt knows better. Shame.
All that is needed is the current employee policy for use of Personal Leave. As a former government employee, the policies under which I worked indicated that Personal Leave was the gold standard out of various PTO earned or given. Vacation, Sick, Comp, and Grievance/Funeral were usually flexible, needing approval, whereas Personal Leave (if submitted timely and prior to taking it) was undeniable except in dire circumstances such as disaster where employees are mandated to work.
Good luck Miranda.