YORK - A councilmember for North York Borough alleges the town's tax collector sexually harassed her.
A lawsuit was filed Dec. 21 against North York Borough and Keith Ramsay in the York County Court of Common Pleas. The plaintiff in the case is Vivian Amspacher, who is represented by Ian M. Bryson from Derek Smith Law Group, PLLC.
Amspacher was made a councilmember in 2005 and elected in 2009. In 2021, she was campaigning for an election taking place at the time, often with then-Tax Collector Keith Ramsay.
In 2022, Ramsay was sentenced to three years of probation after firing a gun in the air to scare mourners who had gathered. Amspacher says his harassment of her started the previous year during the May election.
"Plaintiff made a comment to Defendant Ramsay about the voter turnout and how the crowd was rather small," the lawsuit says.
"Defendant Ramsay stood up, jumped up and down three times, grabbed his crotch, and shouted, 'I got a big penis."
Present was North York mayor Nancy Brunk, who did not reprimand Ramsay, the suit says. Ramsay told Amspacher to learn how to take a joke, the suit adds.
But in November 2021, Ramsay asked Amspacher to join "a sex club" with him, the suit alleges. She also claims he sent her a video of a "male's penis and legs from the waist down."
When she complained, Amspacher was told to produce evidence of sexual harassment at a November 2021 meeting, at which Ramsay was also present. The investigation stopped days later, and Amspacher says she soon began feeling retaliated against for her complaint.
"By way of example, Respondents refused to allow Plaintiff to make any corrections and/or revisions to the minutes that were prepared following a council meeting despite Plaintiff being able to do so before she reported Defendant Ramsay," the suit says.
The suit alleges several more acts of retaliation that can be read here.