CITY OF BUCHANAN COMMISSION UPDATE

By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
BUCHANAN – A majority of Buchanan City Commissioners appear ready to at least partly move on from the recent controversy over former City Manager Benjamin Eldridge and the grievances filed against him by city employees.
Eldridge was put on paid suspension pending the results of the investigation in early November and resigned Nov. 29 at a special meeting where he defended himself against the claims made against him. He had been the city manager since late June.
Monday, city commissioners authorized Mayor Sean Denison to sign a one-year contract with Tim Lynch if terms can be agreed to. Lynch, the retired manager of the Benton Harbor-St. Joseph Wastewater Treatment Plant, served as interim city manager earlier this year from late February to late June.
Commissioner Patrick Swem said he reached out to Lynch after Eldridge resigned and that they had been talking about terms of the proposed contract with both sides making changes. The proposed contract currently calls for Lynch to be paid a salary of $104,000.

Denison said after the meeting that any contract questions will be negotiated by Lynch and the city attorney and then he would sign the contract once there is an agreement.
City commissioner Dan Vigansky voted no on authorizing Denison to hire Lynch. He said he likes Lynch and would like to see him come back but didn’t agree with the process used to get Lynch to come back.
“When was the meeting to give you the power to reach out to him?” Vigansky asked Swem, adding that he had filed an Open Meetings Act violation with the county against the four other commissioners and the city attorney. Swem replied that he reached out to Lynch just as any other commissioner could do.
One area where the majority of city commissioners aren’t moving on from the Eldridge controversy is with what they call Vigansky’s misconduct in the matter. Denison brought four complaints against Vigansky, three of them related to the Eldridge matter.
The four complaints were that Vigansky had addressed black residents attending a local governmental board this summer “you people” and “those people”, that Vigansky had given the grievance list to Eldridge when asked to keep it confidential, that Vigansky had called the grievances retaliatory against Eldridge without reading them and that Vigansky had harassed city staff about the grievances filed against Eldridge.
The public hearing featured sworn testimony by Denison, two city hall employees and two black residents. Vigansky did not attend the hearing but did attend the regular commission meeting after the hearing.
It was noted that a complaint has been made to the Michigan Department of Civil Rights over Vigansky’s “you people” statements to black residents at the summer meeting and to the Berrien County Sheriff’s Department over the alleged harassment of city staff.

Resident James Busby said he had a confrontation with Vigansky over the summer. He said Vigansky called blacks and others “you people” and “those people” and the two had a confrontation during which Busby also told Vigansky to stop being both racist and sexist.
Busby said the city commission should love and respect people and not tear others down. He said after the hearing that he hoped Vigansky would do “the right thing” and resign. “I don’t anyone wants to work with him,” he said. “The best thing is to remove him so the city can move forward.”
Two residents did speak in support of Vigansky during public comments at the end of the hearing. Alan Robandt noted that Vigansky could not be found guilty of retaliating against city staff when the grievances were mostly anonymous with the accusers not known.
Monroe Lemay quoted the last words of the pledge of allegiance that states with liberty and justice for all. She said other city commissioners were just as guilty as Vigansky of stereotyping different groups of people. She also noted that others in city government gave the grievance list to outside business people in the city.
Denison said that a resolution of censure against Vigansky will be drawn up and be brought back to the city commission for a vote at the next meeting Jan. 8. The resolution will formally censure Vigansky and call on him to resign. If he refuses to do so, the commission will take any legal action to remove him up to asking the governor to do so.
Clarity hearings for the two competing recalls involving Denison and Vigansky are set for next Monday, Dec. 18 at 9:30 a.m. at the Berrien County Administration Center. Recall wording has been filed against Denison for suspending Eldridge and against Vigansky relative to the four complaints listed above.