Council chaos

REDKEY — Town council’s meeting Thursday devolved into chaos, broke up about a third of the way through the agenda and led to threats of a lawsuit.

The Redkey Town Council meeting turned contentious during a discussion about the location of a sewer clean out on property owned by Alicha and Bob Miller. Alicha Miller told council the sewer clean out was put in the wrong place — it’s where she plans to put her driveway, she said — and asked that it be moved without any further charges.

That led to a lengthy back and forth between Miller, council members and others in attendance. Council member “Watermellon” Jim Phillips said he had put in a work order to have the clean out moved, but that it had not been followed. Town employee Randy Young presented a copy of the estimate for the work with locations marked and said he had also placed flags on the property indicating where the water and sewer lines would be. (Miller contended that she had another estimate with different locations, but she did not have documentation Thursday.)

At one point when Phillips told Miller the clean-out would be moved, Dudelston responded that he was “getting the cart in front of the horse.” Phillips argued back, at which point Dudelston told him he was out of line and that he would have him removed from the meeting. When someone in attendance at the meeting retorted that Dudelston was being rude, the council president said he would have her removed as well, leading to her walking out.

Cooler heads prevailed, for a few minutes, with Dudelston saying he felt the town had done its job by extending water and sewer to the property line, as required.

Eventually, council member Brenda Beaty made a motion to move the sewer clean out at no cost to Miller. That motion failed 3-2, with Floyd Life, Chance Retter and Dudelston voting against while Beaty and Phillips were in favor.

Beaty then made a motion to get Miller an estimate for the cost to have the clean out moved, saying she would start a GoFundMe page to raise the money. That motion didn’t go any further, with Miller saying she would not pay for it to be moved.

“That’s what they’re wanting me to do,” she said. “They don’t want my taxes, my water bill, none of that. All they want to do is screw people that want to live in Redkey.”

The meeting devolved further from there, with Dudelston and Miller exchanging “warnings” and continued arguments about whether the clean out is in the correct location.

Phillips made a phone call to a state agency, using speaker phone, at which point Dudelston told him to end the call in order to allow the meeting to move on. When Phillips did not end the call, Dudelston asked Redkey police officer Chris Boggs to remove him from the meeting. (Dudelston had announced Boggs’ hiring at the beginning of the meeting, though no vote was ever taken to hire him.)

When Boggs did not and Phillips continued his phone conversation, Dudelston slammed his gavel, declared the meeting adjourned and walked out. (Council was only about a third of the way through its agenda at the time.)

As the meeting broke up and the crowd began to disperse, Beaty began leveling accusations of illegal conduct by some of her fellow council members. She said Boggs was hired as a police officer last week without a council vote.

“They did not consult us,” she said. “They did not have a meeting. They went behind our back.”

She also alleged other council members tried to give Redkey Town Marshal Zach Moser a fraudulent contract and that Dudelston, Retter and Life discussed Miller’s request in advance and had already decided how they were going to vote.

“They’re agreeing to do stuff behind our back,” she said.

Beaty said she would file a lawsuit over the issues. She also offered to share videos from discussions that were held April 12 among council members and Moser at Redkey Town Hall.

The Commercial Review had learned early in the afternoon on April 12 about plans for Redkey Town Council to hold an “emergency” meeting that day. The newspaper then contacted clerk-treasurer Gloria May to inform her that such a meeting would be illegal. (Neither the media nor the public had received proper notice.) The newspaper also contacted then-town attorney Wes Schemenaur — he has since resigned from that role — who said he would reach out to a town council member to inform him that such a meeting would not be allowed.

Asked Thursday night if such a meeting was held April 12, Retter said no. Asked about Boggs’ hiring, Retter said Dudelston made the call to hire him as a new officer. Retter confirmed that council never voted to hire Boggs.

Retter added that he contacted Moser last week about signing a reimbursement agreement for his training at Indiana Law Enforcement Academy — such contracts typically require an officer to repay a percentage of the cost if they leave a department within three years — and asked to meet him April 12 to discuss it. Dudelston had presented Moser with a contract from another town, which Retter said the marshal refused to sign.

Beaty shared the videos from the gathering at town hall, saying Moser called her and Phillips after being presented with the contract. (Among those in the videos are four council members — Beaty said Dudelston came to town hall but left — as well as Moser.)

The videos include Retter telling Moser he would have to sign a contract in order to be sent to the law enforcement academy. After Moser refused, Retter told him his “days are numbered.” (In a second video, as the conversation cooled, Moser said he would sign the agreement if repayment of his wages for his time at the academy were removed from it.)

Retter said Moser did not sign the contract but started at the law enforcement academy Monday.

Retter also said in the videos that he plans to resign from council. He confirmed that statement, but has not yet made his resignation official.

Prior to Thursday’s meeting devolving into chaos:

•Council voted 4-1, with Phillips dissenting, to stop utilizing former Hartford City clerk-treasurer Pam Collett for assistance for the town clerk’s office and hire another consultant at a rate of $140/hour to train May and her staff. (In February, council had approved utilizing Collett for training on an as-needed basis.) May acknowledged that Collett has been helpful with issues when they arise, but said there are still some reports the clerk’s office has not done. “Whatever is going on now is not working, so we’ve got to do something else,” said Retter.

•Following comments from Jay County Council member and former Redkey Town Council member Randy May regarding the benefits of vacating alleys, council informally agreed to Tadeusz Kolodka’s request to vacate an alley between Harrison and Butler streets connecting Grandview Avenue and Wayne Street. He and his wife own three of the four properties surrounding the alley. (May owns the other.) Council members told Kolodka to go through the proper process to advertise the change, after which they will take a vote.

Items on the agenda that council did not get to before its meeting fell apart included zoning, live streaming of meetings, a flag pole at the fire station, a grant opportunity through Norfolk and Southern Railroad, mowing bids, police vehicle bids, Schemenaur’s resignation, claims, water bill adjustments and department reports.