A special meeting for March 31 was called by Southwest Barry County Sewer & Water Authority Chairman Jim Stoneburner to “make clear all the actions that took place (Tuesday) and give Mark one last chance to have his say.”

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. When the roll call showed Messelink, Earl and Kahler absent, the meeting ended at 6:31 p.m. for lack of a quorum.

 

Some people left, some stayed and talked to Doster, Stoneburner and VanNiman.

Doster said his  confusion came from being “a little flustered” because the discussion was about him, and he didn’t have time to write down the three motions, one withdrawn shortly after it was made by Kahler.

“What is the meaning of a freeze? Does that mean no cuts to my salary?” Doster asked.

He said he didn’t hear the part about a time clock, and  noted he has a contract with the authority.

 

Doster understood that he was to be moved to hourly for 40 hours a week. He wasn’t sure of the date or where the wage was set, but if his $60,730 salary was frozen for one year, he said that would mean he would still get the same wages he gets now.

He assumed his benefits remained the same, but a proposed 2.5 percent raise would be denied by the freeze.

 

“I was totally caught off guard,” VanNiman said:  Some members knew all about the time clock before the information on it was passed out. As for surveillance cameras, it sounded like it was to watch the employees, not cover the outside.”

 “Mark has brought us a long ways with the plant in infrastructure,” Stoneburner said. “Others make a lot more than Mark without so many hours, he’s not high on the list of what they get.”

 

“We’ve had a lot of really good people on the board in the past. We all try to do the best we can.” He asked for the shows of temper to stop, and, “work on this in a professional, positive way, not the backbiting that s going on now.”

 

Roger Turner, chair of the authority from 2004 to 2011 and formerly on the Barry Township board, gave his personal perspective on the situation, stressing that he was not speaking for anyone but himself. “Mark is absolutely blameless in this,” he said.

In the beginning, the sewer authority was plagued with financial and legal troubles. Doster was hired in 2005 to handle its administration and did a good job, Turner said. “We recognized his role as project manager, with projects under budget and some rebates given to users.”

 

Friction between the authority and Barry Township over who should pay a shortfall on bond payments on a Fine Lake sewer project was the start of a  “toxic” relationship, that has continued and spread to other areas, he said.

Turner said Doster did not cause the problem but,  “the Barry Township board thought Mark was the cause of it all...I don’t know why. I have never had a problem with anything that Mark has done. It has gone from a struggling entity to an excellent entity.”

 

Barb Cichy, who agreed with Doster that they have been, “on opposite sides of the fence (on sewer issues) since 1994,” had a list of concerns critical of  Doster and the authority board on the day to day running of the authority, including spending $1.5 million for 2,264 users, not issuing reports to the public, allowing hunting on authority property and not explaining attorney fees or why the water system was turned over to Barry Township. “Residents expect better management,” she said.

 

Christie Tigchelaar just wanted “personality conflicts” to stop. “It doesn’t reflect on the community very well…attacking someone who hasn’t done anything wrong, and is doing an exceptional job. I don’t want to use the words witch hunting, but…

“Hastings works together to  make it great.. working and achieving. We’re not achieving when you have a witch hunt going on,” Tigchelaar said.

 

Stoneburner sees “a potential for disaster for our plant…to intimidate and bully people that we’re getting…other board members and myself all want the best for our public...but to bully and threaten us; there must be an agenda here somewhere.

“Something fishy is going on, and I don’t know what it is. Some comments from members are coming directly from a county commissioner.

 

“Three others knew about it ahead of time, it caught me by surprise; it caught Mark by surprise. Not enough information was given to the board, no facts, and no discussion. “We can all have disagreements, sure, I just feel to make changes from salary to hourly was just rammed through.”