Sidney Town Council President Jack Wolfe became the fifth person to resign from the council this year.
Kosciusko County Democrat Chair Brian Smith said Wolfe gave him his resignation Friday morning, effective Sunday, by e-mail and text. Smith said Wolfe did not give a reason for his resignation.
Smith said under state law, he will have to call a caucus within 30 days, but a date to do so has not been determined.
Two Sidney board members – Republican Ricky Bradley and Democrat Kenneth Koontz – and clerk-treasurer Lana Wolfe, a Republican, resigned effective Jan. 14 at the January town council meeting. Etta Hurd was appointed the clerk-treasurer position Jan. 23 by Kosciusko County Republican Party Chairman Mike Ragan, but resigned at the end of the town council meeting Feb. 10, and was replaced by Lydia Neal. Bradley was replaced by Sharon Rancourt, a Republican, and Koontz was replaced by Democrat Gavin Parrett, by their party chairs.
In an interview Thursday with Rancourt, she said she spoke with Smith Wednesday before calling for Wolfe’s resignation. A special meeting was being planned in regards to Wolfe being removed from the board.
Smith said Rancourt spoke to him Wednesday and made him aware of some allegations that he was unable to verify, but were not illegal.
Rancourt spoke about those allegations.
“There’s a general feeling, a general consensus, that you’re being undermined at every opportunity,” Rancourt said.
One example Rancourt gave was that she and Neal and both of their spouses went to sort out town records that had been stored in a shed. She said it took four adults several hours to sort through records from 2020 to 2012. She doesn’t know how far back the records go.
Rancourt said Jack accused them of getting rid of town property when they put empty file cabinets on the side of the road, noting the file cabinets were rusted through and rodent infested. She said the records are currently being fumigated.
Another example was brought up during Monday’s meeting. Jack said Rancourt had stated Jack was responsible for the town’s finances.
During Monday’s meeting, she initially stated she never stated anything about him being responsible for finances. She later corrected herself, stating she told him as council president, he oversees the financials for the entire organization.
Rancourt stated Thursday he was personally responsible for the town’s finances, just like she’s personally responsible for them as a town council member.
“I did not say you were personally liable and that’s what (Jack is) trying to accuse me of,” Rancourt said during Monday’s meeting.
Another concern Rancourt expressed in her interview Thursday was a 100-year lease of some town property to Ben Thornburg. She said there were no meeting minutes in regards to this lease and she perceived it to be invalid.
“I questioned the intentions behind it,” she said. The town council sent the lease to the town’s attorneys.
Attorneys at Rockhill Pinnick LLP got back to the town and stated the lease is invalid.
According to Rancourt, Neal spoke to Thornburg Wednesday and told him to come to a council meeting.
Thornburg said after Monday’s town council meeting, he received an automated phone call after 11 p.m., waking him and his wife up, with Jack going on about how the contract was illegal.
Thornburg explained what the contract involved. He signed a 100-year-lease – signed by Koontz and Jack – and was notarized. It was to lease a property north of a facility he owns at 102 S. Main St. from the west property line to the east property line. The lease was for $1 a year and was not to purchase the property. He believes the lease was signed early spring 2019.
The facility he has is a warehouse that he is trying to renovate, and the property to the north was used as sort of an easement to the facility.
At this point, Thornburg was told the entire town council would have to agree to the lease. The town attorneys had told him the town could not sell municipality property, but the property north of his warehouse wasn’t sold, but leased, to him and he believed the entire council had agreed to the lease when it was signed. He said he has not been presented any ordinances from town attorneys that contradict what he’s saying.
In the lease, he also agreed to maintain the property he leased, including doing things like mowing the grass, he said. He has had people parking around his warehouse. At one point, a delivery from Illinois was dropping some things off at the warehouse and there was a car that looked abandoned.
Thornburg noted he is currently working with the town council to work things out. He also noted when the warehouse is renovated to a production site, it will bring growth and development to the town.
Rancourt said the town currently has no public parking ordinances.
When asked for a comment about Jack’s resignation, Rancourt did not have one, saying she’ll let Smith “take it from here.”
Jack declined comment at this time. He said he wants to see where everything goes before he does.
