Jeff Swartzbeck, a former Mercer County fiscal director, filed notice Monday that he plans to sue seven current or former county employees in Mercer County Common Pleas Court.

The notice -- a writ of summons, filed on behalf of Swartzbeck by Butler attorney Neal Sanders -- does not outline the nature of Swartzbeck's planned civil suit. Sanders said Tuesday a formal civil complaint stating Swartzbeck's case should be filed later this year.

Sanders, who Swartzbeck referred all questions from The Herald to, declined further comment.

Defendants listed in the one-page notice filed Monday are: county Commissioners Cloyd E. "Gene" Brenneman and Olivia M. Lazor; former Commissioner Brian W. Shipley; Law Librarian Kim Deniker; former Grants and Allocations Director Roberta Leonard, Swartzbeck's assistant in the fiscal office; Onalee Godfrey, former administrative assistant to Shipley; and former Management Information Systems Director Suzanne Hockenberry.

Mercer County and the Mercer County Board of Commissioners are also listed as defendants in the suit.

Defendants whom The Herald contacted Tuesday -- or spokespeople for them -- said they had yet to be served with a summons in the case.

Swartzbeck is demanding a jury trial and seeking damages in excess of $25,000, according to the notice. In Pennsylvania, those seeking financial damages cannot sue for specific amounts of money; the largest claims sought are for damages "in excess of $25,000."

Swartzbeck, a Mercer native, resigned last October after county commissioners transferred him from paid to unpaid suspension. Commissioners had initially placed him on paid leave the month before for undisclosed reasons.

Swartzbeck had worked for the county for about four years.

In his letter of resignation, Swartzbeck said, "I had no choice but to resign ... Despite my repeated requests to (commissioners), I was offered no explanation for their precipitous action.

"In addition, while no specific reason has been given (for the suspension), I had extended and re-extended my offer to respond to any issues that may have been raised and, in the event that my credibility was involved, to submit to a polygraph test," Swartzbeck added.

Swartzbeck said his offers were "repeatedly either ignored or declined."

Four months after Swartzbeck resigned, the county paid a total of $57,500 to Ms. Deniker, Ms. Leonard, Ms. Godfrey and Ms. Hockenberry -- four defendants named in Swartzbeck's suit -- to settle out of court claims of alleged sexual harassment leveled by the women.

Jack Cline, an attorney for three of the women, said then that all four women were allegedly harassed by one management-level county employee and the other woman was harassed by another management-level county employee.