By Per Peterson
Actions might speak louder than words, but when actions and words don’t mesh, there’s a problem.
That was the message that city council member Jeri Schons passionately conveyed at Monday’s council meeting about the potential of a public hearing concerning the alleged actions of EDA Chairman Dennis Fultz, who was being investigated for five separate allegations in a complaint filed by Tony Peterson, who sits on both the EDA board and city council.
In the end, the council voted 3-2 to not set a public hearing date for Fultz. Voting in favor of the motion to not hold the hearing were Schons, Kou Thao and Mayor Anthony Dimmers; Dave Tiegs and Peterson voted to hold the public hearing.
The vote came after Peterson warned the council that if a hearing against Fultz doesn’t take place, his employer Jeff Salmon’s intent would be to file a lawsuit against the City Attorney, since Salmon himself was put through a public hearing this summer over his actions that included conflict of interest issues, similar to what Fultz was been charged with concerning his son’s 3rd St. property.
“So we’re back in the middle of ‘lawyers this and lawyers that,’” Peterson said.
“And that’s what we have to stop,” Schons said. “I’m tired of people saying verbally they’re out for the best interests of the city … but their actions are saying the total opposite. They’re dragging the city through mud. People actually have to start saying what they feel, or they need to knock it off and just stop it. Stop it. All of it. Stop it.”
See this week’s Headlight Herald for more on this article.