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Another Letter: ‘Watchdog’ tells the ‘Good Ole’ Boys’ to get facts right

Editor:



Since my last letter, I have found that not only did the GOB’s hire former Police Chief Bob Frye who was caught “double dipping,” but they are paying him $9 per hour and he doesn’t even have to punch a time clock! When he was caught “double-dipping,” he was turning in handwritten time cards claiming he had worked on the street and police departments at the same time on the same days. Unbelievable!!! They are taking HIS WORD for how many hours he is working! AND he gets 40 cents per mile PLUS a minimum of two hours pay for each permit he issues!

It has taken me quite some time to get the minutes from the meeting (January 3, 2007) in which they hired Mr. Frye. I believe these minutes were PURPOSELY kept from me so that I could not tell the public about this new development in the saga of “The New Rome Wannabes!” If you have noticed, whenever a letter or announcement has been issued from the zoning inspector (since Frye was hired), the name of the zoning inspector has been covered over with “white out.” According to public records, Computer Jerk Bill Harper was paid $2,423.66 from Kirkersville taxpayers last year alone! Remember, he gets $30.00 per hour to do work that some of us had done voluntarily. The Village Clerk’s assistant (who is paid $20.00 per hour), Melissa Tremblay was paid $2,932.50 in 2006!

Your tax dollars are going to buy a new street truck! Council minutes show that Mike Cloud and brother-in-law council member James Kincaid will be shopping for that truck. Harrison Township has done mowing, snow plowing, etc. for FREE for Kirkersville! We pay taxes to the township and deserve some of the benefits.We don’t need a new truck; we need a new cast of village officials!

A time card is turned in by the mayor’s son-in-law John Rohr (street employee and a BPA member) with one handwritten entry and is paid without an explanation of why the time clock wasn’t used. On more than one occasion, the same time/days is shown on two separate time cards and, although caught by the clerk, is OKed by zoning chairman/street commissioner Mike Cloud.

And in response to the letter last week from some of Kirkersville GOB’s (Good Ole’ Boys): By their own words, the GOB’s say the “pay raises” for Kirkersville Council members “under Ohio law, cannot be given to currently seated officials. They only apply to incoming elected officials.” However, this obviously doesn’t apply to a relative of the mayor, at least not in Kirkersville! Steve Piatt, the mayor’s son-in-law, voted FOR the pay increase when he was a council member. Four council seats were up for election and his was one of them. Steve Piatt lost his seat in the election to now council member Bobbi Miller. There were only two council seats NOT ELIGIBLE for the raise: Susan Adkins (daughter of village clerk Johnny Adkins and zoning commission member Faye Adkins) and James Kincaid (brother of council member Jamie Cloud and nephew to Mayor’s Court Clerk Teresa Kincaid). Council member Susan Adkins then moved out of town and resigned her council seat. The GOB’s then APPOINTED Steve Piatt to her seat and gave Mr. Piatt the raise! That left James Kincaid as the ONLY council member who is NOT getting the raise and once again the GOB’s blatantly disregard the law!

They would have you believe that $90 per month breaks down to $3 per day for each council member. I contend that the $90 per month is more like $30 PER HOUR for each council member since they have combined all the committee meetings into one committee and named it the “Committee of the Whole.” Yes, the Committee of the Whole Bunch that meets for about 30 minutes before the monthly council meeting. Council meetings usually last about an hour, sometimes a little longer. So AT THE MOST, council members give you about three hours a month.

Their reasons for appointing people to positions is absolutely an insult to the intelligence of the people! Almost as insulting is the belief that these appointees are BRAVE. Public records belong to the people and should be reported to the people. That’s not frivolous nor malicious.

If you want to talk about lawsuits, GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT. I did not initiate a lawsuit. A lawsuit (condoned by the mayor, police chief and council MEN) was filed against the council WOMEN by former Solictior Pete Beagle because we fired him! He only sued the women even though Bill Harper also wanted him fired. We were told if we had anything to say, we had to filea countersuit. All of the suits were dismissed. But one of the most baseless lawsuits ever was when Mayor Bennie Evans (along with then Police Chief Bob Frye) used taxpayer’s money to sue two people for asking to review public records!

There have been a number of opportunities for the Kirkersville GOB’s to redeem themselves with the people. They could have chastised police officerswho were taking payments after writing traffic tickets; they could have chastised village employees who continue to “hand write” their time rather than use the time clock; they could have taken action against employees who fail to present proper receipts for purchases; and they could have even asked the public to fillvacant elected positions rather than appointing their friends and relatives to these positions.

Instead, the GOB’s chose to spit in the face of the one thing that could have been a start in their redemption. They could have returned the $100 to the 77-year-old man who was illegally ticketed by the Kirkersville Police. A $100 to the GOB’s would have been a little over three hours pay, but the gesture would have been priceless.
Bonnie Mansfield
Kirkersville



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