A 73-page binder of information, originally deemed to be secret under “attorney-client privilege” and then voted out into the open for the public to examine, appeared to be a big disappointment for those seeking ammunition in their fight to unseat four Van Buren Township officials who were elected last November.
Various charges made by Karin LaMothe, Eric Feldcamp, and Lori Werner, all leading members of the recall campaign, were given to township attorney Patrick McCauley for study of alleged wrongdoing of their targets.
The use of the township attorney to investigate the charges by the recallers was encouraged by the leftover officials from the last administration, who are openly hostile to the newcomers.
Pushing for the attorney to root out wrongdoings were Treasurer Sharry Budd and Trustees Phil Hart and Jeff Jahr. The four targeted for recall are Supervisor Paul White, Clerk Leon Wright, and Trustees Al Ostrowski and Denise Partridge.
The issue of an alleged Open Meetings Act violation, because when they were campaigning White and Ostrowski discussed what they would like to do if elected, was a non-issue. As private citizens, there is no Open Meetings Act.
Also, McCauley said there did not appear to be any secret meetings of a quorum of board members to discuss the hiring of Carl McClanahan as interim public safety director, as alleged, nor does it appear there were any separate meetings or conferences discussing this matter held to deliberately avoid the quorum requirement of the Open Meetings Act.
Attorney McCauley also wrote that after studying the situation, he could not find any violations of the Computer Policy and Usage Guide, as alleged.
Also, under his study of Ethics Policy issues, it may look like White provided favored treatment to McClanahan by recommending him as the interim public safety director, a majority of the board voted to hire him and made the final decision.
Also, the qualifications on the July 2004 Public Safety Director job description were not used to select the new interim public safety director. If the board adopts that job description for the permanent public safety director’s job, it would appear McClanahan would not meet all the requirements.
But, McCauley pointed out, Gerald Champagne did not meet all the requirements for the job when he was hired in 2004 and the board used its discretion in hiring Champagne and used it again in approving McClanahan’s hiring.
Also, Dan Swallow was promoted from deputy director of planning and economic development to director without seeking other applicants, after Bryce Kelley resigned in 2008.
Supervisor White said at a public meeting that Treasurer Budd had recommended Swallow for the position.
And also in 2001, William Delaney was hired by the King administration on an interim basis without seeking other applicants to fill in when Kelley left the first time, which turned out to be for just a few months before Kelley returned.
Attorney McCauley said that in investigating situations in an attempt to apply the Ethics Policy makes it apparent that the policy requires “greater specificity as to, among other things, definitions, sanctions and applicability to elected officials.”
“… Every situation which is considered for analysis under the policy will present its own unique challenge as to interpretation and application,” McCauley concluded.