Terry King

ALPENA — Alpena County has agreed to pay former undersheriff Terry King $125,000 to settle a 16-month-old lawsuit in which King said he was wrongfully forced out of a job, according to a copy of the agreement obtained by The News.

The county is responsible for $25,000. Its insurance company will cover the balance.

In exchange for the payment, King said he will never seek employment with the county again. The deal does not forbid King from running for office.

King could not be reached for comment on this story.

The agreement acquits the county and Alpena County Sheriff Steve Kieliszewski of any wrongdoing and says neither party shall be deemed a prevailing party.

“I’m glad it is behind us,” Kieliszewski said today. “Now, I can put more time into more important things like getting the new jail up and running and focusing on my office and staff.”

A new county jail is under construction.

County board Chairman Bob Adrian said the county agreed to the settlement at the recommendation of its insurance company and the county’s attorney.

“This came back being in the best financial interest for the county,” Adrian said. “Put it to rest, and now it’s time to move on. We could have continued to fight, but the fees and cost could climb fast, so it was advised to us to put this to bed.”

King was forced to resign from his position in June 2019 after Kieliszewski accused King of wrongdoing. King sued in two months later, claiming he was fired for pointing out the wrongdoing of others.

This summer, King ran against Kieliszewski in the August primary and lost.

King was accused of improperly interfering with an Alpena Police Department investigation into an alleged gunman at Ella White Elementary. Text messages made public through state open records laws appear to confirm King told the husband of a woman whom police wanted to question as part of that investigation that his wife should not agree to a lie-detector test.

At the time King quit, Kieliszewski said an internal investigation revealed no misconduct, but “there were several matters where I’ll just say there was a lack of judgement.”

King also was accused of overbilling the state for hours worked at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center, where the county had a contract for providing security. Last month, the state Attorney General’s Office said it would not charge King in that matter, but the state withheld $42,211 — the exact amount King allegedly over-billed the state — from its last payment to the county for the security contract.

The county last year lost that contract to a lower bidder.

Meanwhile, King said he was fired after twice blowing the whistle on others.

In June 2018, King said, he told 26th Circuit Court Judge Michael Mack that individuals on tethers were not being monitored properly and had discovered a way to bypass the tracking system. Mack later issued an order requiring all further tethers be managed by a specific company. The company wasn’t named in the suit.

King said he also reported to then-911 director Bert Francisco that a former police officer was utilizing the county’s radio system in a county-owned vehicle and used the lights on the vehicle to make it appear as a police car. The radio traffic was detected by Michigan State Police 1st Lt. John Grimshaw, commander of the Alpena Post, who brought the matter to Kieliszewski’s attention.

Commissioner John Kozlowski said in hindsight he believes the matter could have been addressed differently and he is saddened by how things played out and the toll it has taken on everyone involved.

“I think it could have been handled better from the get-go,” Kozlowski said. “There was definitely a communication issue that the public didn’t know about. I think this all could have been avoided, and it is sad it had to come to this.”