Board seeks to recoup surety bond on clerk

The Portage Board of Works, made of mayoral appointees, on Tuesday approved a resolution calling on Mayor John Cannon to try to recover money from the insurance company holding a surety bond Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham.

It was the next move in a months-long campaign by Cannon and an “executive investigative committee” that alleged Stidham inappropriately paid nearly $60,000 in contracts without getting board of works approval between 2015 and 2016.

“We believe these funds were not approved,” Cannon said. “We know they were never on a docket. They were never approved by the board of works.”

The investigative committee also was made of Cannon appointees. Stidham said the move was “purely political, a way for (Cannon) to distract people from problems in his own administration.”

The resolution calls for Cannon to try to get Liberty Mutual to pay the city the almost $60,000 out of a $300,000 bond the insurance company holds on the elected clerk-treasurer. If Cannon is successful, and, Liberty Mutual pays the money to the city, the insurance company can seek to recoup its losses from Stidham.

“The board of works wants their money back,” Cannon said. “They believe the board never approved the payments. Their objective has been, I believe, to get the money back.”

Governmental entities, like cities and towns, get bonds on elected officials and others as insurance policies. If the public official does something to harm the entities they represent, those entities can try to recover any financial losses from the agencies holding the bonds.

The Indiana State Board of Accounts, or SBOA, and a special prosecutor, with investigative help form the Indiana State Police, have been investigating to determine if Stidham did anything inappropriate.

Stidham acknowledged the SBOA is still reviewing the matter, though he said an initial report from the SBOA indicated there have been problems with the board of works’ accounting for years.

“(Cannon) keeps jumping to conclusions because he’s trying to score political points,” said Stidham, who is not running for any office. “He won’t let the state process play out.”

Stidham lost a bid for the mayor’s office in the May primary and will leave the clerktreasurer’s office at the end of December.

Michael Gonzalez is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.