NEW PALESTINE — With the election of all three seats on the New Palestine Town Council looming in 10 days, one of the candidates is sharply criticizing the town for promoting nepotism.
Angie Fahrnow, an independent candidate, is one of four who is hoping to gain enough votes to earn one of the three council seats. She’s raising questions about nepotism within the town’s leadership and is concerned that the incoming clerk-treasurer, Tonii Pyle, who is running unopposed, is the daughter-in law of the longtime town manager, Dave Book.
Pyle will take over after the current clerk-treasurer, Becky Hilligoss, retires at the end of the year. Fahrnow is suggesting it’s too much of a conflict of interest to have Pyle working so closely with her father-in-law.
Book says he was disappointed in the criticism and noted the town’s lawyer double-checked the state nepotism laws when Pyle was hired as an assistant to Hilligoss several months ago.
“We’re following the state statute,” Book said. “It states you can’t hire anybody under your direct control. There is complete separation there.”
Once she’s officially the clerk-treasurer, Pyle will oversee the town’s finances. It means she will often work with Book on funding town projects and departments, and that doesn’t sit well with Fahrnow. Part of Book’s duties, according to the town’s job description, include the town manager working with the clerk-treasurer to prepare and submit an annual town budget.
“There are several times in the town minutes from this year’s meetings where Book (was) asking the clerk-treasurer for money that wasn’t budgeted for,” Fahrnow said. “You can’t tell me the two positions don’t have daily interaction.”
The Indiana General Assembly enacted Public Law 135 in 2012 mandating local governments to adopt anti-nepotism policies, and New Palestine officials have done that.
The New Palestine council passed a resolution on nepotism in July 2012. In the resolution, the council defines “relative” in several ways including, a daughter-in-law or a father-in-law.
Pyle said the concerns are groundless.
“I very rarely even see Dave,” Pyle said. “We’re all here to serve the town in the best way that we can.”
Fahrnow doesn’t like the fact Pyle will have control over moving funds between accounts — something into which the town manager potentially has input, she said.
“So is the daughter-in law going to tell her father-in law ‘no,’ or is she going to find a way to make things work for him?” Fahrnow said. She suggested Book should step down as long as Pyle is clerk-treasurer.
The suggestion of any impropriety doesn’t sit well with Book, who said he was disappointed Fahrnow would even think there could be an issue.
“My integrity is the most important thing to me,” Book said.
The other candidates on the ballot, all Republicans, were guarded in their responses to Fahrnow’s criticism.
Jan Jarson, a longtime council member, backed Book’s view and said the council looked into the state’s and the town’s nepotism policy when Hilligoss first hired Pyle as an assistant. Jarson doesn’t see an issue with Pyle being on board and working with Book.
“It’s not illegal,” Jarson said. “I don’t have any kind of an issue with her being in that role.”
Still, the potential for a conflict of interest may need to be revisited once Pyle gets into office, said another incumbent, Brandee Bastin, the town council president. The town’s initial response is that hiring Pyle and having her be the clerk-treasurer is not illegal because the position does not report to anyone at town hall and therefore should not be a conflict of interest.
But Bastin said she is “open to listening to any concerns and having the issue revisited by our attorney if need be.”
The third Republican running for the council, Bill Niemier, said that if he is elected, he would listen to whatever issues residents or other council members have and then act in the best interest of the town.
“Things should be looked into and evaluated, and if someone raises a valid concern, then you do what you can,” Niemier said.
Since Niemier is currently not a member of the council and is unfamiliar with all of the council’s policies, he said the proper thing to do once the new council is elected is to thoroughly look into all the town’s policies, including the one on nepotism.
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The four New Palestine Town Council candidates will take part in a community forum set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, at the New Palestine Town Hall.
The event is being sponsored by the League of Women Voters Hancock County and the Daily Reporter.
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Where do they stand? See candidates’ responses to our questionnaire on Page A5.
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