Constantine fills two vacant council seats

By Emily Mullen, Staff Writer
11/12/00 — Three Rivers Community News

CONSTANTINE - The village council filled the vacant seats of former Trustee Dave Horn and former President Pro-tem Barry Lusk in the absence of Trustee Scott Chiddister during last week's meeting.

Richard Larrance, 190 S. Washington St., took Horn's place and Willie Harder, 280 Station St., filled Lusk's seat. The council accepted Horn's resignation at the meeting.

Horn announced his resignation on Oct. 15 due to "ridicule" he received at previous meetings by Chiddister, who has questioned the council's integrity on several occasions. Lusk resigned since he is moving to Cass County with his family.

More seats were almost vacated as Chiddister and Village President Ken Oates submitted their resignations back-to-back last month, but both were withdrawn due to "overwhelming support from the community to stay on."

The position of police commissioner, which was also formerly held by Lusk, is still open, and Village Manager Rick Commenator said the position will not be filled any time soon.

"(Oates) has announced that the council has no intention of filling the seat of police commissioner until after the March elections," Commenator said.

He said the seat will be filled by a council member and that Oates makes the final decision. The interim positions will also he held until March.

Chiddister recently requested that the council consider him for police commissioner, but said he doesn't think that will happen.

He was absent from the council meeting in order to hold his own gathering, which took place in his neighbor's garage on White Pigeon Road and hosted over 60 community members.

Chiddister originally asked the council to move the meeting to a larger facility to accommodate a large crowd for his most recent address and to be allotted one hour to speak.

The council refused based on "Robert's Rules of Procedure," agreeing to only 10 minutes to speak at the regular hall at the end of the meeting.

Chiddister addressed issues that he has been concerned with over recent months, taking the issue of the council's integrity a bit further.

He connected the dredging of the Riverview Park bottom by Oates and Commenator, which Chiddister has asked St. Joe County Prosecutor Jeff Middleton to investigate, with the termination of the village's upkeep of Wyman Memorial Park.

The village had a 25-year contract with Constantine Public Schools to "maintain such liability insurance in connection with the activities or use of the above described property..."

Chiddister played a recording of Oates stating at the Oct. 2 council meeting that he didn't want to renew the Wyman Park contract because the village could not afford to maintain the expenses and upkeep of the park.

He claimed the Riverview Park project, which cost the village a total of $266,000 (70 percent of the project cost came from state matching funds), started too close to the time Oates put an end to the village's involvement with Wyman Park.

"The Wyman Park lease ended in 1997, which is within the time frame Oates started having discussions about Riverview Park - ask your president why," Chiddister said.

He further stated the village spent nearly $35,000 in budget overruns, which is 50 percent of the $69,895 spent on Phase I of the project. Phase II was covered by the acquired grant money.

Nearly $29,000 of the overruns was attributed to a clerical error Commenator said was made back in April but caught just before Oselka Construction was paid for their work on the park (about $158,000). The remaining $3,000 was added to the overruns to pay for the river bottom dredging.

"What are the odds of the village hitting that number dead on," Chiddister said about the 50 percent over-budgeted items. "Take a look at Riverview Park - do you see $266,000 worth of materials invested in that project?"

In regards to the police budget issue, he cited a documented graph that showed Constantine spends $82,942 on each officer a year, which is the highest per capita expense in the state compared to 15 other villages of the same size.

Chiddister said some of the officers from the police department have come to him with complaints of interdepartmental spending on items that are not needed, insinuating more unethical actions by the council.

"These concerns really go a lot deeper than spending too much money on items the department doesn't need, but the officers really haven't said much more," Chiddister said. He recommended proposing a tighter budget to the council and closer surveillance on how much is spent for each officer and on what items.

Chiddister criticized the performance of Oates and Commenator based on their recent low evaluation scores, and the fact that Commenator "was not truthful in his use of the village vehicle."

Lusk was also condemned for various comments he has made to Chiddister on his recent actions against the council, stating Lusk "came unglued" and "got very vocal in the closed session" held last month.

Chiddister concluded that his dissent for these issues, along with the accusation he made on the village's attempt to hold a closed session under false pretenses, were all part of the council's "resignation conspiracy" against him.

He said Horn and Trustee Garland Lusk were the other two who polled for his resignation from other council members along with Oates back in September.

Chiddister's term in council expires in March. He said he doesn't plan on running for the seat again due to personal reasons, but he will "if the opportunity is given to him."

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