Argos Town Council listens to citizen’s complaint
at the beginning of each argos Town Council meeting, citizens are invited to come and voice their opinions, comments, complaints, and any other thoughts concerning the town.
at Wednesday night’s meeting, one citizen took the council’s opportunity to voice a complaint regarding his interaction with the building inspectors that are contracted with the town.
“How can our building inspector be our police as far as them being on the planning board and on the BZA? I’ve had some issues with these guys and now I have to come in front of the planning
board and the BZA, and I don’t feel that it’s going to be a fair shake,” said Mark Owens.
In early 2018, the Town of Argos contracts Marshall County’s Building Inspector Chuck Dewitt to serve as the town’s building inspector.
Owens claims that in their interactions the building inspector has used inappropriate language.
“I’ve been told by our assistant building inspector I’ll never get my building inspected,” Owens said. Rob Hurford serves as the county’s part-time building inspector.
Owens admits that some of the processes that he performed were wrong, but claimed it was due to not knowing. “I don’t feel that it’s going to be a fair fight for me to go in front of the BZA or planning board if I have to deal with these guys.”
Owens asked the town council if there was another method he could do instead of going before the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) or the Planning Commission.
Town Council President George Null stated that the building inspector doesn’t have voting power on either board. The boards receive recommendations from the building inspector, but could vote against the recommendation.
Clerk-treasurer Lisa Mullaney reminded the council that Hurford does serve as the president of the town’s BZA.
“The other question I have is why are we employing somebody in this town, or township, that has the history that these two fellas do,” Owens said. He claimed that Dewitt has had multiple issues with other people, including some Argos homeowners. “Why is he allowed to disrespect us in many fashions especially when my 13-year old son was standing there when he told me to eff off. One of my employees was standing there.”
After that incident, Owens contacted the County Commissioners. He said the commissioners “basically told me I was lying.”
Town Attorney Derek Jones weighed in with his opinion. “The town has contracted with Chuck and if he’s doing his job then that’s the contract that’s been entered into. And so long as he’s doing a good job then I think that’s probably going to be what he continues to do. Now, if he made some comment to ‘eff off’ to you or in front of your son, I agree with you I don’t think that’s appropriate.”
Jones also stated that if the Town Council was to cancel the contract with the county for Dewitt’s services, he wasn’t sure who or where the town would obtain similar services.
“So, what you just told me, as a citizen, I don’t matter,” Owens said. “And I can be disrespected by the building inspector.”
“It’s the first time I’ve ever heard any negative comments about Chuck and/or Rob in their capacity for working for the town. I think it’s fair that we point that out, from the town to Chuck and Rob, and tell them that’s not appropriate. If that’s what occurred,” responded Jones.
At this point, according to Owens, he’s ready to move his business outside the town limits because of the treatment he’s received by officials.
“We’ve got an issue that, maybe I’m the only one willing to speak up and put my (expletive) on the line, but I’m very disappointed that the county didn’t do nothing, and now here I feel like I’m batting zero,” Owens said. “I’m not perfect, and I’m not saying I’m perfect, but Chuck, what he did, was wrong.”
When Owens indicated that he wasn’t the only person to have this issues with Dewitt and Hurford, Null suggested that those people and Owens speak with the county and/or take a route with an attorney.
“I will bring the people. People are afraid to come because of exactly what I said. If I come here and this gets brought up, I’m going to have a living hell to continue forward to do anything. That’s how Chuck operates,” Owens said.
After Owens and the council discussed his building project and what his options were in terms of the BZA and Planning Commission, Owens asked what’s the next step as far as his complaint.
“You’ve explained your end of things in terms of what you’ve said. Again, it’s the first time I’ve heard of any of this. Not just from you, but from any citizen throughout the town since we’ve had Chuck which is two, three years ago at this point. I’ve not heard anything from Chuck about this issue in terms of what he says occurs,” Jones said.
When Owens argued why Dewitt would talk to Jones about the issue, Jones answered back “that’s kind of how this works, to be honest with you. Okay? Nobody’s just going to come in and say we want so and so fired or kicked out or gone without listening to what they have to say about it. It’s just not how it works.”
Jones advised the council to not take any action that night until both sides are heard.
“I’m not saying you’re lying, not saying you’re wrong but I’m saying there are two sides to every story. We’ve heard one,” Jones said.
Another meeting attendee asked where Owens could go to file an official complaint against the building inspector. Mullaney stated that since the complaint was against Dewitt while he was acting as County Building Inspector, Owens would file a complaint with Marshall County.
“Now, if Chuck did that while advising one of our boards, then this council would take care of that,” Mullaney said.
Jones pointed out that the Town of Argos does have a contact with Dewitt and that if the town didn’t like how the relationship was heading, the council could terminate the contract or not renew it when the time came.
The town attorney also suggested that Owens might seek an attorney to help guide him through the process of getting his building project through the BZA and Planning Commission.