Syracuse Council Mired In Trivia

I found the resignation of Syracuse Town Manager Brian Redshaw a bit unsettling.

I think the resignation occurred largely because of a personality conflict between Redshaw and Syracuse Town Council President Larry Siegel.

That's unfortunate.

First of all, let me say that there are no bad people in this equation.

There are differences of opinion and differences in management styles, but no bad people.

No one has accused Redshaw of being a bad town manager. Quite the contrary. People who know him say he's a hard worker.

But it's never a good thing when personalities seem to get in the way of governing.

I talked to both of these guysÊthis week and I really think they both believe they are on the rightÊtrack and have the best interest of the town in mind.

Whether Redshaw's resignation is in the best interest of the town remains to be seen.

But a quote from RedshawÊin our story on Thursday really made me take notice of the issue.

He said, "The town manager's position is under assault."

That is a bit unsettling.

There are plenty of significant items of business before the Syracuse Town Council - any town council, for that matter.

Things like budgets, utilities and town services.

It seems counterproductive to me to scour state statutes in an attempt to exactly delineate the role of a town manager.

But that seems to be what Siegel is up to. In his defense, I think he just wants everything to be right.

He wants everything to be done according to the law. That certainly is a noble cause, but isn't that why there are town attorneys?

Frankly, in all my years of small-town journalism - all 24 of them - I have never seen public officials become so embroiled in the minutiae of legal definitions.

I mean, we're to the point of people resigning here.

Here's an example.

Redshaw wanted to name somebody to fill in when he's away. Does this sound unreasonable to anyone?

The town has an ordinance governing such things. It's pretty much a direct copy of Indiana Code 36-5-5-8, the state statute that deals with town managers and town councils. Seems Syracuse, like most towns, simply lifted the state statute and turned it into a town ordinance.

Anyway, according to town ordinance - that's Sec. 3 of ordinance 91-11, (Powers and duties of Town Manager), subsection 4 - the town manager "may delegate any of his powers to an employee responsible to him."

OK, seems pretty straightforward, right?

But no. Wait. Siegel points to Indiana Code 36-5-5-7 which says, "The town legislative body may appoint a qualified person to perform the duties of the manager whenever he is absent or unable to perform his duties."

Aha.

So which is it? These are both subsections of same state statute. This is the law.

The simple answer is, "I don't know. Call the attorney."

But doesn't this beg the larger question, "Who cares?"

I mean, really. Do we really want to pay an attorney to sort this out?

Shouldn't it be a case where Redshaw says, "Hey, council, I want Joe Blow to replace me if I get sick," and they say "OK, we like Joe Blow," or "No, Joe Blow is a fool, we'll pick somebody."

There are more issues like this between Redshaw and Siegel. But that's the point. They're issues like this. Not weighty, important issues that could result in dire consequences for the town.

I get the sense it boils down to a bit of a power struggle. A "Who's in charge?" debate.

It seems a little petty.

At least the town council is trying to clear all this up.

Council members will meet Monday to discuss an amendment to the Syracuse Town Code as it relates to the town manager's powers and duties and the town's organizational chart.

I guess this means that no one will ever be confused again. Everyone will know who has the power.

I'm sure the new town manager will be made well aware of his status before he ever takes the job.

Too bad Syracuse had to lose a town manager over it.

There have been a couple other instances of minor conflict on the Syracuse Town Council.

Michael Brower, Syracuse BZA member for 14 years, and then-BZA president, was not reappointed to his position this year. The town council probably would have reappointed Brower, but Siegel looked at state statutes and found a provision stating that the president of the town council could make the appointment on his own.

Siegel appointed somebody else.

And while longtime town council member Carol Koble would never go on record as saying so, she has told more than one person around Syracuse that Siegel's presence on the board was at least part of the reason she decided to resign. She was re-elected in November and resigned in December.

I think Siegel needs to be careful before he winds up running Syracuse all by himself.