Kidwell dishes out, takes criticism

Published 11:16 am Wednesday, February 18, 2009

By By JESSICA SIEFF / Niles Daily Star
When the race for Niles Township supervisor was on last August, then candidate Jim Kidwell based the most important issues facing township citizens on two distinct factors.
"The township has many areas that I can improve," Kidwell said in a Star interview of each running candidate this past summer.
"Many of these revolve around two issues," he continued. "The first is the wasteful spending that I have witnessed from the current township administration…
"The second issue that I see facing the township is a lack of full time leadership… If elected, I will be a full-time supervisor. It is my intention to be at the township hall during regular business hours…"
Now, his intentions are garnering Kidwell some heavy scrutiny – as he has moved to appoint his daughter, who lost in her bid for Niles Township Treasurer during the same race, as deputy supervisor and the board now faces setting a salary for the position.
And as it seems, building tensions came to a head at the Niles Township Board meeting Tuesday night.
Prior to the meeting, Kidwell was not willing to name who he had in mind to be his deputy. "Since I've been here," he said. "I've been putting in seven hours a day…"
Kidwell said even with that much time put into Township business, he wants "to have someone to fall back on," should he be sick or unavailable due to various committee meetings. It's more work than he had anticipated, he added. Kidwell said when he is needed in attendance at emergency response or landfill meetings the deputy supervisor would be able to handle fielding other issues.
"Because I am only one person. There's just a lot more here than I anticipated," he said.
It's the first deputy supervisor in the township's history, according to Kidwell and township clerk Marge Durm-Hiatt.
Asked if the board had to approve of his appointment, Kidwell said no, that the township supervisor had the "absolute right" to appoint a deputy and that "nobody else has anything to say about it."
According to official guidelines for elected township officials, the provisions were set in 1982, where the MCL (Michigan Compiled Law) was "amended to authorize the supervisor to appoint a deputy township supervisor."
A deputy supervisor will hold "all powers and duties" of the supervisor in cases of sickness, death or disability – however would not have the authority to "moderate or to vote on the township board." A deputy supervisor also "need not be a qualified elector or taxpayer of the township."
As for Youngs' salary – Kidwell is basing the ability to pay out a new position within the township, at a time when many businesses and municipalities are holding off on new hires due to the recession, on the recent resignation of former zoning administrator Tracey Vines. "Her salary for right now, in the budget, is still there," Kidwell said. While it's not being used it seems Kidwell believes that amount or a portion of it could be directed to Youngs.
While Kidwell received the criticism for his decision to bring his daughter on as his second in command, he dished some of his own out to Berrien County Sheriff L. Paul Bailey.
It was never a secret that Kidwell did not support the contract township voters approved of in November to keep the Sheriff's Department patrolling Niles Township streets. Back in the July interview, Kidwell said he felt the township needed to look at other bids for the job and did not believe that the bid by the Sheriff's Department was the best choice financially.
At Tuesday night's meeting, Kidwell reportedly squared off with the Sheriff, claiming that the costs surrounding the police coverage had jumped since the initial figures presented to the board in August. Durm-Hiatt said she wasn't quite sure where the confusion was coming from.
At the time that the board was trying to finalize its budget, she said, they did not even know if the millage would pass. There was a possibility that had the millage not passed, a contract with the Sheriff's Department would not have been signed. It passed in November elections and seated board members, Durm-Hiatt said, received information outlining the costs and were aware of the difference from preliminary figures.
Kidwell had been at those workshops, she said.
She also explained that Kidwell had requested written documentation from Bailey on the daily activities of those officers within the township and received a letter from the county denying his request. That denial was reportedly based on the fact that details within such documentation could revolve around ongoing investigations.
The meeting reportedly got heated enough that one member of the audience, Durm-Hiatt confirmed to the Star Wednesday morning, that member being Jack Flock, was ordered removed by Kidwell. Flock had been warned after making a disparaging comment. Upon making a second, he was ordered out.
Asked Tuesday how he would counter criticism regarding the issue of appointing Youngs as a deputy supervisor when he stated in his campaign that wasteful spending and full time leadership were points that needed to be improved, Kidwell went back to his level of anticipation.
"I am not familiar with the supervisor job," he said. More calls had been filtered down to the township clerk and treasurer while the previous supervisor was not in the office, he said. And that influx of calls was not being directed to him on top of meetings and other duties. He did not anticipate how much work there was to be done, he said.