One of newly-elected County Commissioner Eric Maxwell’s first motions swept more than two years of bad blood between the Sheriff’s Department and the County Commission under the rug for what he hopes is a long time.

Maxwell’s motion last Thursday to simultaneously dismiss two lawsuits between Sheriff Randall Johnson and the Fayette County Commission was not without controversy.

The two cases involve the powers of the county marshal’s office — under the commission’s control — and Johnson’s construction of a building to house the sheriff department’s helicopter.

“The factual issue that will have to be determined at some point is if the marshal’s office was created before 1992 and constitutes a county police force,” Chairman Jack Smith said.

Smith believes the marshal’s issue could surface again, but Maxwell dismisses the notion.

“I was surprised at how Jack voted. He admitted these were frivolous lawsuits when they were filed,” Maxwell said.

During his campaign, Maxwell emphasized that he wanted a better accounting of the money the county was spending on lawsuits, and said he was frustrated by events during Thursday’s executive session.

“I asked how much was spent on these two lawsuits and neither the county administrator or the attorney could give me an exact figure,” he said.

He did add that county attorney Bill McNally estimated it was around $100,000, but Maxwell believes that figure should be readily available. He’s not taking total issue with McNally, since the sheriff was represented by Rick Lindsey.

Another surprise for Maxwell was seeing more than 20 uniformed sheriff’s officers in the county’s meeting room before the vote was taken.

“I know a lot of those officers and many were off-duty,” he said.

Now that the lawsuits have been resolved, Maxwell hopes the commission will focus on doing the county’s business.

“I hope that the sheriff does not have any hard feelings. We’ve got to move forward.”