EVART — Evart Mayor Chris Emerick recommended removal of the entire Housing Commission board during a city council meeting last week.
“I have had the opportunity to look over what was presented to me and talk with (city attorney) Mr. White, and at this point in time, my recommendation is to remove the entire board and start over from scratch,” Emerick said.
Council member Sandy Szeliga, who serves on the housing commission board, said she did not agree with the removal of the entire board.
“I am just dumbfounded that the mayor wants to replace the whole board, and I am insulted that you think that is going to solve all the problems of the housing commission,” Szeliga said. “All I asked for back in January was to have the one person that was causing all the problems removed, and you want to replace all of us.
“Back in January, I had a letter signed by four of the five housing commission board members requesting the removal of one of our members,” she said. “At that time, we were instructed that we could not move forward with the removal until an investigation had been completed. The investigation is now completed, and we are requesting that council now consider our request.”
In January, the housing commission board of directors sent a letter to Emerick and the city council requesting the removal of the board president, Don Maddern.
The letter stated that in May 2020, following a meeting of the housing commission board to discuss concerns about an employee that was accused of causing a hostile work environment, Maddern repeated the confidential information to the employee in question.
Maddern continued to have contact with the employee and advise her without informing the board, the letter continued, and spoke with the employee and her spouse regarding housing commission business.
In October, Maddern allowed the employee and her husband to interject themselves into a board meeting and question and intimidate board members, the letter said. In addition, he (Maddern) threatened board members with fines and jail time, saying he would report them to the Attorney General’s office.
The housing commission board voted to request the removal of Maddern from the board, saying, “As the commissioners, we truly believe that Don did not follow proper procedures, nor did he advise (the employee) to follow the proper grievance procedures. He continually violated confidentiality by discussing commission business inappropriately.”
Housing commission director Karen Higgins told the Herald Review that the issue started with a complaint from an employee that had left the commission.
After leaving the Evart Housing Commission, the employee went to work at the Reed City Housing Commission, where Maddern is also an employee, she said.
“She didn’t feel that I was doing things right,” Higgins said. “She complained, with the help of the board member (Maddern), to the city manager (Sarah Dvoracek). When the person made the complaint, it should have gone to the board. The city became involved when they absolutely should not have.
“Things were being done behind my back, which should have never happened,” she continued. “The city should never have been involved because the only involvement they have with the housing commission is the authority to appoint the board. We are a completely separate entity.”
Higgins said that because the city manager became involved, it was taken to the city council, who then decided it should go to the Michigan State Police for investigation.
“The case was closed by the state police because the issues were unfounded," she said.
Higgins added that the housing commission had been advised to hire their own investigator to look into the allegations from the employee, as well, which they did.
"Our investigation was also closed with no finding, she said. "Everything that was alleged was found to be unsubstantiated.”
Szeliga said that upon reading the results of the investigation, it was clear that the conversation between Maddern and Dvoracek was inappropriate and the matter should have been handled internally by the housing commission.
Council member Don Elliott said given the complaints from former employees that the majority of board members were friends with the director of the housing commission, he believed that going to the city manager was perfectly within their rights.
“Employees have that right and any citizen has the right to go to the city manager with complaints,” Elliott said. “There is no question in my mind that the city acted properly.
“This was not a personnel management issue, this was an allegation of wrongdoing, so to rely on an employee dispute mechanism is totally inappropriate,” he said. “I don’t see how the housing commission could come to a fair resolution given the allegations of the employees. It is unfortunate that the state police did not do a thorough investigation and that HUD did not act.”
Attorney James White said that as far as the issues that have been going on at the housing commission, the city council was correct in referring it to the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Michigan State Police.
“My understanding is that the state police refused to do anything, and HUD has not gotten back to us,” White said. “The problem right now is that there are issues that have to be addressed. The mayor is the only one that has the authority, with the approval of council, to remove or appoint board members, but I don’t know how you can act on a request if all you know is that the investigation is completed and you have no idea what the result was or had any chance to talk to anybody.”
Szeliga said she could attest to the fact that there were no findings of anything illegal or unethical on the part of the director, or that any of the charges alleged by the employee were substantiated.
“The housing commission has received the results of the investigation, but according to our attorney, those results are confidential,” she said.
Council member Matt Hildebrand said it was his understanding that there was a FOIA request for a report from the housing commission regarding the investigation, and that it was denied.
“That is very concerning to me,” Hildebrand said. “I believe the FOIA request was denied on the grounds that it wasn’t in the public’s best interest to release it. That is the biggest red flag for me that we are not getting all side of the story.
“As a council member, I feel like there is something someone is not telling me and that makes me incredibly uncomfortable,” he continued. “The only course of action we have as a city council is appointment and removal and the mayor has made her choice about how she wants to proceed.”
The basis for the board’s request that Maddern be removed included his threatening board members and disclosing confidential information as explained in the letter to the city council, Szeliga said.
“As a member of city council, I am asking that Mr. Maddern be removed from any commission or board he is currently serving on for the city of Evart,” Szeliga said. “His unethical behavior, as well as his discussing confidential information with members of the public, makes him unsuitable to serve in any capacity in the city of Evart.
“I would like to know what cause there is for you to remove the whole board,” she added.
Emerick noted inconsistencies in the stories they were getting, along with the public perception of what is going on with the board as her reasoning for recommending removal of the entire board.
“The perception is that there is a group of friends controlling the board and making decisions, and the one odd-man out you are asking to have removed,” Emerick said. “On top of that, we have the denial of the FOIA request for the report of the investigation of the serious allegations that were made. All of these are huge red flags.
“I am the appointing authority, and if things continue to go wrong, I am the one that is responsible, and you are, as well, as a member of council,” she said.
The housing commission board consists of five members, each appointed for a five-year term: Dan Maddern, Sandy Szeliga, Joyce Huston, Keith Halifax and Mary Hooper.
City council approved the recommendation to remove all five board members, 4-1, with council member Szeliga voting no.
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