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By Dave Greber, Staff Writer Updated 6:46 AM Friday, October 30, 2009

HAMILTON — The owner of a Fairfield company that allegedly received special treatment from Michael A. Fox in exchange for money confirmed the former Butler County commissioner gave him a heads up on a county project and tips on how to secure the bid.

Gary Keller, owner of A-Absolute Water Restoration, said Fox gave him advance notice about an impending mold abatement bid with the county in 2003. It was a job that paid $18,530.

“He did tell me that there was going to be a job at the county courthouse. He told me what I needed to do to get that job,” Keller said Thursday, Oct. 29. “But that was the only job with the county that was given to me by Mike Fox.”

Fox, also a former state legislator and executive director of Children Services, is accused of defrauding the public out of hundreds of thousands of dollars and financially benefitting from county contracts from 2000 to 2008, according to the indictment unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati.

The indictment also alleges Fox financially benefitted from county business with Keller’s company and two other local contractors:

• Universal Transportation Services — formerly Winton Transport Inc. — of Fairfield.

• Noah’s Landscaping of Hamilton.

Company owners respond

UTS owner Tom Burer is alleged to have given Fox $5,000 in December 2004, according to the indictment. It also states UTS received approximately $5.8 million in contract payments from Butler County between 2001 to 2004. Fox “disguised and concealed” those payments “in various ways,” according to the indictment.  “It’s regrettable, and I’m shocked and dismayed,” Burer said Thursday. “Everything we got from the county was bid on. It was not because of any connection to Mike Fox.”

Burer said Fox told him the $5,000 was to be used as “seed money” for a county-based health insurance plan for his employees. He said the money was not a contribution to Fox’s campaign.

Noah Woolum, owner of Noah’s Landscaping, said he has been doing business with the county for more than four decades, but that none of the contracts were the result of his relationship with Fox.

The indictment states Woolum gave Fox $5,300 in three payments from November 2004 to October 2005.

“I have never had any inappropriate relationship with Mike Fox,” Woolum said. “I’ve never had one cent’s worth of a contract that had to do with Mike Fox. I’ve never had any county work that I solicited from him.”

Woolum said the $5,300 was likely campaign contributions, though Fox did not report them as such, according to the indictment.

“I’ve given to Mike Fox and all the county commissioners’ campaigns,” Woolum said. “That didn’t have anything to do with my business in Butler County.”

‘I’m never going to get paid back now’

Although the indictment states Fox was loaned more than $40,000 by Keller as a result of the 2003 work at the county courthouse, Keller disagrees. Keller said he made $13,000 in payments to Fox’s mortgage company, Countrywide Home Loans, and loaned him another $27,900 through Fox’s company, Fox Development.

“I did that out of the kindness of my heart, not because of any contracts with the county,” Keller said. “Why would I loan him $40,000 because of an $18,500 contract?”

Keller said Fox — whom he described as “a very dear friend at one time” — told him numerous times he intended to pay the money back in full.

“I’m never going to get paid back now,” Keller said. “It’s a sad day for me. It’s a sad day for the county. It’s another black eye in the honest political structure we have in Butler County.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2112 or dgreber@coxohio.com.

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