An exchange between Mentone Town Marshal Jim Eads and Councilwoman Shelly Krueger got so heated Monday night that he accused her of lying and she accused him of twisting her words and being a bully.
The meeting only lasted about 15 minutes, but Eads and Krueger took up most of that time yelling at one another and interrupting each other.
At the February meeting, Krueger had provided the other councilmen, Tim Croy and Jill Gross, with rough drafts of policies that she is developing. She declined to share them with Eads and other town employees then because they were rough drafts.
Then Monday night, Krueger asked Croy and Gross for their comments about her developing policies, and if they had anything to add or change.
Croy suggested the council have a meeting to discuss the policies. But Clerk-Treasurer Barb Ross said that the council was not allowed to have an executive session to discuss policies according to the Indiana State Board of Accounts.
“Then how do we do it?” Croy asked.
Ross said each councilman needed to read it, study it and discuss it at a public meeting.
Eads then asked for a copy of the policies, and Krueger said it wasn’t a policy yet as it was still being developed.
Eads then told Krueger she told him last month it was a general employee policy but now it was a police department policy.
“I didn’t tell you everything last month so don’t put words in my mouth,” Krueger said. She said a full employee policy is being developed but part of that has to do with the police department because the police department has issues that the other town departments don’t.
Krueger then told Eads he bullied the board, was being difficult and is always contentious and argumentative. She reminded him that he’s a town employee and the board is his boss.
“I don’t have to tell you everything,” she told him.
They then got into an argument about who said what at the library regarding time sheets and employee policy when they had a discussion there about a month ago.
At one point, while Krueger was trying to tell her side of the discussion at the library, she finally told Eads to “shut up and listen,” but Eads told her not to tell him to shut up.
Krueger said the town doesn’t have a policy on employee conduct and the policies she was developing would address that.
She also reminded Eads that, “I don’t have to clear anything with you. I don’t have to talk to you about it. I don’t have to get your OK with it.”
The rough draft of the personnel discipline policies is about three pages. The policies on the first page cover primary responsibilities, performance of duties, use of force and personnel integrity for police officers. The other two pages touch on disciplinary procedures for all town employees, the discipline process and examples requiring discipline.
At the top of page one of the policies are the words Mentone Police Department Code of Conduct, which Eads said that meant the policies were just for his department. Krueger said if he read the whole thing, the policies were not just limited to the police.
<span style=”font-family: Verdana, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; line-height: normal;”>She also had some policy change suggestions for employee vacation time, but she said there wasn’t much change to that.
Croy said the council members would study the issue and discuss it further at another council meeting.
In one other issue, Utilities Superintendent Josh Shepherd said cemetery clean-up is April 1 if there is no snow on the ground. Flowers and grave decorations should be removed before then.
(Story By The Times Union)
