A Hennessey town trustee was name-calling and another trustee (not the one being called out) said a town employee was spreading rumors about him.

Both happened during the board’s Oct. 11 meeting.

Trustee Richard Simunek started a complaint by saying Mayor Bert Gritz had lied and he expected an apology.

Gritz and other trustees at the board table apparently didn’t understand what he was talking about for several minutes.

Simunek didn’t elaborate after Trustee Harold Shaw asked him if he was talking about the July meeting.

In that July town meeting Gritz reprimanded Simunek about his posts on an All About Hennessey Facebook page.

Simunek wrote that it was a lie that Gritz was “not intending to tear down the library…This is not the first time I (Simunek) have been lied to by Bert and Tiffany.”

The restoration of the existing library has been one of Simunek’s pet projects since he went on the board almost four years ago.

In the confusion at this month’s meeting, Simunek said the battery in his hearing aid went down, that he couldn’t hear what was being said and he ended that discussion.

All trustees were present for the meeting held a few days earlier than usual due to a Thursday night football game: Vice Mayor Clif Vogt, David Jones, Simunek, Gritz and Shaw.

The four-term board terms of Simunek, Gritz and Vogt will be up in the spring and the filing for those three seats will be in early February.

Oops! We Can’t Talk About That

Under “Council Person Reports,” Jones, who went on the board in March, said he had an item.

He said there have been rumors going around about him by “one town employee,” but before he said the employee’s name, Gritz and Town Administrator Tiffany Tillman stopped him.

Gritz said since it’s a personnel matter, they’d have to discuss it in executive session (closed to the public).

He also said that such an item had to be on the agenda and would also list the name of the employee.

Oops! Item Not on Agenda

Earlier in the meeting, Simunek complained under a “new business” topic that Tillman didn’t post an agenda item as he’d requested.

He wants a “process” for volunteers to complete an application for consideration to be appointed to the town trustees after the resignation of a board member before their term expired.

Tillman said she sent his agenda information to Town Clerk Kati Walters, who is responsible for making meeting agendas. However, Walters had resigned as a town accountant in January, and she didn’t check her town email address in time to get his item on the agenda.

Walters apologized for causing the problem.

Tillman said another problem was a requirement that the agenda be posted on the Friday before the Tuesday night agenda because Monday was Columbus Day and Town Hall was closed.

Shaw said he was surprised the office was closed that day.

“When the post office and banks are closed, then Town Hall is closed,” said Gritz.

Shaw said he’d never gotten off work for Columbus Day.

The KT&FP reporter said it was an apparent error and she objected to the discussion because it didn’t meet the state Open Meeting Act.

But … Tillman said Simunek could discuss the item under “Council Person Reports.”

Simunek said he’d thought they were on that item.

He’d planned for the board to approve an application process for those interested in being appointed to the board to apply, he said. That way they’d have some candidates in case there was a resignation, or an opening on the board which had happened in the past.

The board didn’t appoint a replacement within 60 days of receiving Keith Meek’s resignation in September 2021. Members did, however, hold closed sessions to discuss it, but then had only two options: pay about $2,000 for a called election or wait until filing time in early February.

They waited and David Jones won in April against Frank Patton, the only other candidate, and Jones took office that month.

Patton was in the audience at this month’s meeting and said he’ll run again in April for one of the three seats up for election.

After Simunek continued to discuss the trustee application, Tillman said it would have required an ordinance prepared by the town attorney and couldn’t have been approved that night anyhow.

She also said she’d take care of it for next month’s meeting.

Another Council Person’s Report

After the board changed hats and met as the Utilities Authority, Shaw asked Tillman if they got the pump in at the sewer lagoon.

“We just got the pump in last week,” she said.

Patton had asked at the August meeting about using the town’s sewer lagoon dump site for his mobile home.

The site was closed again at that time because Tillman said they’d “just spent $17,000” on it and it was plugged up again with a “bunch of rags.”

Tillman said then that the lagoon was only for commercial customers because it was too difficult to keep track of their usage.

Jones offered this as a solution: have them come in the office and get a key and bring it back when they’ve finished.

( Note: See related story on Trustee votes, Tillman’s request and report)