City administrator and wife settle issues on order of protection alleging abuse

Attorneys for a city administrator and his wife have temporarily settled outstanding issues, such as visitation time with their children, within an order of protection filed late last year while he was on leave from the city.

During a hearing Tuesday, attorneys for Ravi Doshi, 36, and his wife Alexa met with Sangamon County Circuit Judge Colleen Lawless in an attempt to settle the issue before Ravi appears in court March 1 on misdemeanor charges of violating the order and before the pair finalize their divorce.

After nearly two hours with Lawless, the sides were successful in bridging the issues, allowing Ravi Doshi to have contact with his three children beginning Saturday.

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Doshi works in the city of Springfield's Office of Planning and Economic Development as an officer of economic development and administrator for tax increment financing. His attorney, Sam Erkonen of Plainfield, and his wife's attorney, Ashley Davis of Springfield-based Feldman, Wasser, Draper & Cox, declined to comment after the hearing.

Doshi was arrested Dec. 28 and charged with violating an order of protection filed against him by his wife on Nov. 9. In an arrest report obtained by the SJ-R and provided by the city, his wife told Springfield police officers that Doshi had contacted her three times in the prior week via text message, a violation of a portion of the order requiring him not to have any contact with her.

The report also says that Alexa Doshi told officers her husband had committed numerous incidents of domestic violence during their seven-year marriage, with one incident reported to the Springfield Police Department.

The order of protection, also obtained by the SJ-R and provided by the Sangamon County Circuit Clerk's Office, states that on several occasions over the past year, Ravi Doshi had been verbally abusive towards his wife, to the point that she was afraid for her safety and that of her children. She also stated that her husband had problems with alcohol and drugs.

The order stated Ravi Doshi was not to harass, stalk, physically abuse, intimidate, or interfere with his wife's livelihood. He also was asked to undergo counseling for an alcohol and drug problem that his wife reported him having in the order. Counseling will continue, per the agreement signed Tuesday.

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The order of protection had been extended three separate times prior to Tuesday's hearing.

Following his December arrest, Doshi was released on a $7,500 bond. The city said that he had been on family medical leave unrelated to his arrest. He remains an employee of the city.

Doshi will next appear on the misdemeanor charges on March 1 at 9 a.m., after his hearing on the order of protection scheduled for 8:30 a.m.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Springfield city administrator on leave following abuse allegations