RICHMOND – Clay County announced settlements in discrimination cases involving five top-tier employees who will leave county employment “on or before Dec. 31.” “It is appropriate that the new commission will be able to start with a new staff and really turn the page for Clay County,” Presiding Commissioner Jerry Nolte said. The announcement came while voters remained at the polls late Tuesday. Voters replaced two of the three Clay County commissioners after Commissioner Gene Owen and Luann Ridgeway decided not to seek reelection. They had faced criticism for various decisions, including paying attorneys to keep Missouri Auditor Nicole Galloway from getting access to all information she seeks to conduct the county audit voters demanded by petition. Ridgeway and Owen signed each of the five settlement agreements. Nolte signed none of them. “I did not think they were in the interest of Clay County and their citizens,” Nolte said as the polls closed Tuesday. “The allegations that…