BUCYRUS — Bucyrus Mayor Jeff Reser asked for the community’s input on his bid to reduce the city income credit for out-of-town workers, and he got it Tuesday night.
Council President Jenny Vermilion opened the floor for routine public input and got just that.Bucyrus citizen, Carolyn Shireman, took her three minutes to address council member Mark Makeever, who made a comment on social media that Shireman felt insulted her intelligence:
“Please look at me when I speak to you. Don’t insult my intelligence. Nobody put me up to file the suit,” Shireman said. (referring to her recent malfeasance action to remove Dan Wirebaugh from council). “I’ve filed a suit. I can do things on my own. I didn’t need anyone to tell me how to put it together. I put the Positive Seekers together, so I don’t need anyone to tell me how to file a suit, OK. Don’t insult me again.”
Makeever told Shireman,” I wasn’t trying to insult you. I’m sorry.”
“Yes, you are!” Shireman said.
Bucyrus citizen, Robert Taylor, an out-of-town worker, addressed several grievances, including out-of-town workers living in Bucyrus. Taylor expressed his displeasure with the postponement of discussing the tax credit issue. Reser recently asked the committee to postpone the discussion until May, when a clearer picture of finances and tax revenues would come into the city.
Taylor suggested council take up the tax credit issue with the GOP and not the citizens.
“I’m glad you’re looking for public input, but it’s my honest opinion that if you’re really looking for public input, you’d go ahead and put this on the ballot,” Taylor said.
Taylor then asked Reser if he’d asked the police and fire departments to take pay cuts. He asked council if they had considered a pay cut.
“Probably not. The answer is always the same, more taxes. Suddenly the mayor is concerned about tax revenue. Not too long ago, tax revenue was not an issue because he went along with shutting down businesses for a long period of time (COVID),” Taylor said.
Taylor accused the mayor of going on a spending spree with the COVID “cash cow” monies. He told Reser that he wanted to reduce tax credits because the “cash cow” has dried up.
Taylor accused Reser of somehow making out-of-town workers feel that they are not doing their part in the community. He told council that he felt the comments were disgusting and divisive.
“Comments were meant to further divide us and shame some of us who don’t work here in town,” Taylor told council.
Taylor then turned his attention to Makeever.
“You made some statements on social media saying you have trespassed on a residence’s private property and took pictures. Are you a Peeping Tom? What were you doing?” Taylor said.
President Vermillion called Taylor into order and told him while she appreciated his passion, he was being hostile.
Taylor went on to advise Makeever that trespassing is a fourth-degree misdemeanor.
At that point, Wirebaugh read from counsel’s rules for public participation and said that he felt Taylor should be removed from the meeting. Vermillion said he was trending toward dismissal, but he could continue.
Vermillion told Taylor he was “teetering on the border” of being removed from the meeting. Taylor apologized and thanked Vermillion. Taylor then addressed Wirebaugh.
“Free speech allows for dissension. If you want to live in an echo chamber, I recommend you join Twitter and follow the blue checks,” Taylor said. “Some of your statements to Crawford County Now I find pretty disturbing and very divisive. You covered a broad range of topics on a national level that have nothing to do with why you walked out of a committee meeting, absolutely nothing.
“It furthers the divide. No discipline was found for Dan,” he continued. “It looks like optics to me. The good ole boy network is in full display here. Rules don’t apply there (motioning toward Wirebaugh). But they apparently apply to everyone else. When he said people like me don’t belong in his community, I think he was talking about me. I think that’s who he was talking about. Well, extremists like yourself don’t belong in mine.”
Time was called on Taylor, but Wirebaugh indicated that for the record, he didn’t believe he ever said what Taylor implied he said.
Bucyrus citizen and former council member Lisa Alsept took her place at the podium. She expressed her displeasure with the fact that the discussion regarding reducing the tax credit on out-of-town workers was delayed at the mayor’s request.
“I’m confused as to why the mayor gets to decide when council committee members get to discuss things. I am wondering if it’s because he is actually being challenged by the Republican Central committee right now,” Alsept said.
She also challenged what she called the mayor’s “Disney like video” by pointing out his “nose-growing” lies.
“I am not uninformed on how this tax reduction works. The people that live here and work here won’t see any difference, but for out-of-town workers, it’s very different. It is a tax increase,” Alsept said. “The second “nose-growing lie” is that the mayor only missed two meetings in eight years. I sat in that seat right there, and he missed for months because Kurt and him could not get along or had personal problems between the two. The third nose-growing lie is that the mayor has only received two calls. I had multiple friends who had called. There seems to be some issues with the phones being answered. Some got e-mail responses, and others did not. The city has to maintain parks that are not owned by the city.”
She went on to address council about Reser’s desire for more parks and Bucyrus and his desire to hire a park director. She told the issue should be put on the ballot for the voters to decide.
“Please stop telling people this is for safety forces and health or street repair there is a street levy that will be coming up again. I can guarantee it will fail if your out-of-town workers are forced to pay more taxes. I implore council members to remember that they are elected to represent the citizens that live in their areas, “Alsept concluded.
Reser challenged Aslept’s comments: “Miss Alsept, do you know what the total budget of police and fire is?”
Alsept remarked she didn’t.
“You should know. You were a council member for two years. You should know that. Do you know how much the levy brings in?” Reser asked.
Alsept said she didn’t know, and then many voices erupted from council members and visitors. Some accused Reser of harassing Alsept.
“Stop! Stop! Stop!” Vermillion shouted.
She called the discussion closed and moved on. As tensions continued to grow throughout the evening, Reser told everyone in council chambers, “Keep in mind that potential employers are watching this dog and pony show.”
Citizen Bill Kennedy then addressed council about what he called the “double-dip” tax. Kennedy said he would rather work in the city. He said he would rather not drive 30 miles to work, but there are no good jobs in Bucyrus.
“Thirty years ago, you should have shown me the job.”
Another citizen told council he was forced to find work out of town. Ray Thitoff of Bucyrus told council, “I worked for Baja Boats for 20 years until they closed. I was forced to find employment out of town. I worked 10 years, and that company went out. Then I had to find another job out of town. I’m tired of being insulted, saying I don’t pay my fair share. If you add an extra $1000 of tax onto me, then I can’t vote for a levy of any kind. Think hard about it. There’s a lot of signs in town. I have two of them. I’m not a liar,” Thitoff said.
Crawford County Now will continue to cover this developing story.