COUNCIL … Members of the Fayette Village Council, and Mayor Dave Borer, discuss the resignation of Ric Beals during the recent special council meeting. (PHOTO BY JACOB KESSLER, STAFF)
By: Jacob Kessler
The Fayette Village Council held a special meeting on Monday, April 3rd to discuss a resignation received from Ric Beals, the current village administrator.
The meeting began at 6:00 p.m. with a prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. The meeting began without administrator Beals present.
A call was placed to Mr. Beals to find out if he would be attending so some of the issues stated in the resignation letter could be addressed.
It was explained that Mr. Beals was not in the village at the time and would not be attending.
It was then stated by councilman Chris Meeker that the point of this meeting was to get answers to questions anyone has.
Rules were set up for how the meeting would be run in order to make sure no denigration of one’s character would take place.
Each council member would be given a chance to ask questions, as well as anyone in the audience.
Discussions followed between council members regarding what could and could not be said during a public session vs the need to go into executive session.
All of this was being conveyed to numerous residents who had come out to hear about what was going on in regard to the letter.
Discussion followed regarding communication in the office and whether or not there was an issue.
Councilman David Wheeler stated that he had spoken to Ric quite a few times and that he had stated there was no communication in the office.
Mayor David Borer then stated that a communication issue had existed and that a lot of that took place through emails.
The mayor explained that Ric would send out emails and wouldn’t tag him in them. At that point, he would only be included in the responses and was not being kept in the loop of things.
He also explained that an email was sent out telling people that there was no money for Phase Two of the water project, due to the village not having the money for it, and that it was no longer being looked at.
Councilwoman Suzette Boesger then presented the differences between Phase One and Phase Two of the water project to those who were present.
It is council’s hope that grants will be obtained to help pay for Phase Two of the water project. However, in order to obtain funding for this leg of the project, planning has to be done before the funding can be obtained.
There currently are no funds available for Phase Two of the project, but the planning yet to be done was what was going to allow for funding to possibly be obtained.
A question was raised by a resident who asked whether or not the meetings where these issues are discussed, such as the engineers meetings, are able to be attended by anyone.
It was stated that these meetings are held in the daytime and that they are public sessions open to members of the public.
Anita Van Zile was then acknowledged by council and read part of the resignation letter from Administrator Beals.
Van Zile, who was a previous mayor for the Village of Fayette, read the following from the letter of resignation. “In a village administrator type of government, the mayor oversees the daily operation of the village through his direct reports.”
Van Zile went on to say, “In a village administrator type of government. Things are managed here through the day.”
“Meetings take place at night where communications are shared, decisions made. In a village administrator type of government, as far as the funding that Karin would have been involved in, what I see is that it was a village administrator responsibility, it was not the mayor’s, and that process would have been started, and Dave included with other people, through an email or a meeting.”
“How I see it in a village administrator type of government. The administrator starts things, works with the mayor and communicates to council.”
Van Zile and Village Fiscal Officer Karin Sauerlender then discussed the village administrators position, particularly in regard to who should normally initiate things in the office.
Sauerlender explained that it depends but normally it is the village administrator. She also pointed out the fact that there has been an interim period between administrators and that the mayor had filled in that role during that time.
Additional conversations followed with numerous questions being asked by residents who were in attendance.
These ranged from how the village moves forward following this and communication as a whole.
Support for the mayor was also given from many residents who were in attendance along with comments of sadness for the issues being put out into the public.
Councilman Chris Meeker then spoke again stating that he had spoken to the mayor and administrator multiple times.
He explained that the conversations are between him and them but that he ultimately believes that both men have Fayette’s best interest at heart.
He also stated that he was disappointed that Mr. Beals was not present in order to hear things from him.
Both sentiments from Mr. Meeker was also echoed by many members of council and residents who were in attendance.
The previous Village Administrator Genna Biddix was also present and spoke to council regarding the issue. “The communication issue has been brought up a lot.”
“I think the communication needs to be driven by the administrator and I think that the burden of that needs to sit on the shoulders of the administrator.”
“The position description of the village administrator is to give legislative advice to the elected officials so that they are able to make the decisions to guide the village in the direction they need to go.”
“So, communication should start with the village administrator and then disseminate from there.”
“So, it needs to start with the village administrator, go to the mayor and then go from there around the table.”
Councilwoman Suzette Boesger then thanked everyone who had come that evening to the special meeting.
She also explained that council and the mayor are here for the community and are working to make the best decisions possible for their constituents, and their community.
Following additional discussion, council moved to enter into executive session at 7:30 p.m.
Council returned from executive session at 8:17 p.m. and moved to adjourn at 8:24 p.m.
Jacob can be reached at jacob@thevillagereporter.com