BUCYRUS—New members of the Bucyrus City Council got a front-row seat to the tense interaction between former Council President Kurt Fankhauser and Mayor Jeff Reser.
While Council President Jenny Vermillion worked to keep the meeting on point, public participation led to tense exchanges.
Fankhauser came directly to the point of his first issue after he welcomed new members to council: “It’s not as easy as you might think. You will find out very quickly that.” Fankhauser said.
Fankhauser explained to council that he was honored to serve the last two years of Dan Wirebaugh’s position on the Crawford County Board of Health. Fankhauser told council the term is up, and the seat is appointed by the Mayor and approved by council.
“They may choose someone other than me to be appointed, and I accept that,” Fankhauser said. He told council it was highly unlikely Mayor Reser would recommend him. Fankhauser said that Reser would be nominating Sis Love ( former Council President) for the position. He addressed new members of council and told them he knew some sitting members on council were set on approving Love.
Fankhauser resides in the second ward represented by Arron Sharrock. Fankhauser asked her and the needed other four members of council to block Love’s nomination.
He said appointing Love would be a step back for Bucyrus. To justify his plea, he referred to a lawsuit filed against the city council, then-President Sis Love, and council member Dan Wirebaugh. The city was sued for violating Ohio’s Sunshine and transparency laws over inadequate records, including meeting minutes. The suit, filed by Vicki Dishon, was settled out of court with the settlement amount of approximately $20,000.00 and attorney fees for the city of $50,000.00.
Dishon, who faithfully attends council meetings, is often heard to be correcting minutes and questioning former and present Law Directors about procedural matters. She filed a similar lawsuit prior to the one settled in 2015. That suit was dismissed without prejudice.
Claiming he feared Love would jeopardize the city by violating the Same laws, Fankhauser implored new council members to take a stand: “Please, for the sake of the taxpayers and taxpayer funds, do not nominate Sis Love. I ask this council to not confirm this person to the Health Board. If that person were to violate transparency and Sunshine Laws, the taxpayer funds would be at risk here. I ask that at least some of you take a stand and say no.” Fankhauser said.
Mayor Jeff Reser was quick to come to Love’s defense:
“Those are uncalled for personal attacks on a person who has served the city of Bucyrus courageously and with the epitome of what it takes to sit in the Council President’s chair. She was at that time in a long line a very good council presidents. In addition to that, she has served one term already on the Crawford County Board of Health with distinguished behavior. She got along well with everyone and added a lot to the health board. She did not put her personal interests first but the health of the citizens of the city.” Reser said.
Reser told the council Love’s name had come up in discussions, and he was told that the city couldn’t do better than Sis Love for the position.
Later after Reser’s report to the city, Fankhauser came back for round two. Reser advised the council that the city is going to purchase two security cameras to be set up in Schines Art Park.
“Is there something wrong with the cameras I donated to the park?” Fankhauser asked Reser.
“We want to make sure the people on the other end of the cameras are the police department or city officials, not private citizens.”
Fankhauser told Reser that he was wasting city money. “ What are you spending on these cameras?” Fankhauser asked.
“We have no access to what’s on those cameras. There are privacy issues. You can have the cameras back.” Reser said.
Fankhauser pointed out that the park is a public space. He said when police asked him in the past to review footage, he always complied.
Reser told Fankhauser that if he would be willing to let the police department have the cameras and he would have no access to the footage, it would be acceptable.
“That’s perfectly fine. I’d like to meet with the police department and the city to see how we can accomplish that. Thank you.” Fankhauser said.
No further discussion on either matter was held.
In other business, it was announced that the city compost site will close on January 7th.
Reser assured citizens if they still needed to dispose of their Christmas trees, they would be picked up through next week.
The new council clerk Megan Conley was unanimously approved to serve through 2023 in a full-time capacity.