An Oro Valley councilman will be attending two upcoming council meetings virtually instead of in-person as part of a censure by his colleagues for bad behavior in public.
Timothy Bohen, who was elected in November 2020, was unanimously censured by the townβs mayor and five other council members for his βbehavior towards residents, staff and council members.β They cited four specific occasions: Jan. 1, 2019; June 1, 2022; as well as Dec. 18, 2023; and Dec. 19, 2023,Β according to the councilβs meeting agenda.
Bohen left the Feb. 7 meeting ahead of the executive session in which the council was to discuss the potential for disciplinary action, as well as the councilβs ensuing vote. He did not respond to the Star's requests for comment.
Bohen must participate remotely for the next two council meetings, Friday and Feb. 21.
Additionally, Bohenβs access to the town's buildings is "limited to the public spaces." He would need a police escort to enter any βnon-public spaces,β according to Jeffrey Hidalgo, a spokesman for the town.
What particularly caused this action by the mayor and council were incidents that occurred at Pusch Ridge Golf Course on Dec. 18 and Dec. 19 of last year, in which Bohen is alleged to have verbally abused both town staff and employees of the firm that manages the golf course.
Bohen was "combative" and "verbally aggressive," during a site tour of the course. He allegedly attempted to 'grill' course-and-city staff over accusations of stealing money and inflating course sales, calling course staff "crooks," according to incident reports filed by course staff.
Council member Steve Solomon, who requested the item be deliberated last week, had a run-in with Bohen that led to legal action.
Solomon said he feared for his safety and felt physically threatened in an altercation with Bohen at the end of a council meeting June 1, according to a hearing order filed June 8, 2022.
Solomon said Bohen called him a curse word as he walked past his seat in a narrow aisle.
β(Bohen) then jumped out of his seat lunging at me with his hand outstretched and his finger pointing at me and proceeded to push me with his finger while he continued to angrily shout at me,β Solomon said.
The altercation cooled down after an Oro Valley police officer separated the two.
Solomon then filed a report with Marana police. Bohen was ordered to have no contact with Solomon except through attorneys, legal processes and court hearings. He was also ordered that he βshall not go to or nearβ the council memberβs residence, as Solomon stated that Bohen βhas a history of violent threats" against former coworkers and managers.
Despite happening before Bohen won a seat on the council, the incident in 2019 was included among those that prompted the censure. In it, an Oro Valley police officer reported making a welfare check on a manager in a company Bohen worked for at the time that stemmed from an argument the pair had over a product for a customer, the report says. This was part of the council's decision, primarily due to the fact it was included in a 2022 court filing relating to the June 1 incident of that year.
βDuring the argument, (Bohen) claimed if he was going to be fired, that he would kill (his manager),β the report says. The police officer went on to note in the report that Bohen was expected to be fired following an internal investigation by the company.
Bohenβs term on the council ends this November.Β
