On Oct. 30 the ILB ran an entry titled "Can a council grant a multiyear employment contract that extends beyond the terms of a majority of its members?" A Gary Post-Tribune story [no longer available] quoted in that entry reports:
At issue is whether a council can grant a multiyear employment contract that extends beyond the terms of a majority of its members. In March 2003, five of seven council members who hired Shelhart lost their seats. New members fired Shelhart as chief and mounted a legal challenge questioning the validity of the old contract. They are refusing to pay Shelhart the $125,000 his contract stipulates.Today the Post-Tribune brings the story up-to-date. Some quotes:
MERRILLVILLE — Two fired police chiefs. Two questionable extended employment contracts. Two different court rulings. Returned from his vacation Monday, Merrillville Town Attorney Steve Bower said he remained perplexed over Lake Circuit Court Judge Robert Pete’s ruling in favor of former police chief John Shelhart.Posted by Marcia Oddi at November 16, 2004 08:15 AMBower said while formal documents have not hit the courts, an appeal from the town is coming soon. He said Shelhart’s case is too similar to the New Chicago one, involving fired police chief Ronald Taylor, for the judge to have ruled dissimilarly. He wants to argue the matter before the Indiana Court of Appeals, and anticipates that the Shelhart and Taylor cases could be consolidated by the higher court. Without that, he said, confusion persists as to what is acceptable in Indiana.
Pete ruled last Friday that the town fired Shelhart in January without cause, and that the chief should have completed his two-year, nine-month contract, despite the fact that the contract stretched beyond the terms of some councilmen who appointed him. * * *
However, on Sept. 8, Lake Circuit Judge Gerald Svetanoff found that New Chicago was justified in firing Taylor in January after a two-year contract was inked with him by outgoing council members. * * *
Some differences exist between the two lawsuits. In New Chicago, all the council members who granted Taylor the new contract were replaced — and they knew they would be because they waited until after the May primary to act. In fact, they contracted with Taylor in September — three months before leaving office.
On the contrary, five of seven Merrillville council members were replaced and the council gave Shelhart the deal in March 2003, way before any primary or election.
Dave Westland, attorney for Shelhart, said unlike in New Chicago, the Merrillville town council didn’t know they wouldn’t be around for the duration of Shelhart’s term. He said they acted as school boards do when they hire a superintendent to last beyond their terms.