An attorney for Mercer County and its Board of Commissioners responded Thursday to a suit filed last week by a former county employee.

Former county Fiscal Director Jeff Swartzbeck filed notice last Monday that he plans to sue the county, the board and seven current or former county employees.

The notice did not outline the nature of Swartzbeck's planned suit.

But Swartzbeck's attorney, Neal Sanders, said a formal civil complaint would be filed later this year.

Hermitage attorney Donald R. McKay filed a motion Thursday on behalf of the county and the board of commissioners demanding that the complaint be filed within the month.

If one is not filed within the next 20 days, the case will be thrown out.

McKay and Sanders were not immediately available for comment Thursday afternoon. Swartzbeck has declined comment and referred all questions from The Herald to Sanders.

Swartzbeck, a former Mercer councilman who worked for the county for about four years, 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 said he was never told why he was suspended.

Four months after Swartzbeck resigned, the county paid a total of $57,500 to four current or former county employees -- all named in Swartzbeck's suit -- to settle out of court claims of alleged sexual harassment. An attorney for three of the women said that all four women were allegedly harassed by one management-level employee and the other woman was harassed by another management-level employee.