Even though Barryton is less than 80 miles away and marginally bigger than Custer, you may not be aware of the Mecosta County village south of Evart.  If you are a regular reader of the Ludington Torch, however, what allegedly happened there is something you are all too aware of.  A married couple serving as the village's clerk/treasurer and director of the DPW seem to be complicit in breaching the public trust and using public money for their private gain

TV 9&10 reports in the article "Barryton Village Council Members Suspended, Suspected Of Misusing Funds":

Members of the public spoke out at Barryton’s village council meeting Tuesday night in response to the suspension of the treasurer and director of public works.


Jennifer and Chad Lindsey were suspended over suspected inappropriate use of village funds.

At a special council meeting, trustees voted to terminate Chad as director of the department of public works.


Jennifer will remain suspended pending an investigation.


Also discussed at the meeting, was how to move forward and maintain the village until the crisis is resolved or replacements are found.


The village president also moved to protect village funds. [End of article].

As revealing as this article is, it fails to release any part of why the two are under suspicion and under suspension from their jobs, and whether anything was released of substance at the meeting.  One would expect they would have a good, specific, and valid reason to terminate the husband, but it appears they do not want to share that with the public whose money has been misappropriated reportedly.  

When public bodies fail to disclose such relevant issues publicly, it makes the whole system look complicit in the cynical eyes of the public.  If the firing and/or suspension turns out to have been done inappropriately, they will be forced to pay up for the council and supervisor's error of judgment.  When nothing is given out by officials at meetings like this and nothing reaches the public (this appears to be the only on-line source so far for this series of events), those paying attention should be automatically suspicious of the covert system doing unjustified actions.

It is refreshing that if the underlying charges do turn out to be sustainable, that Barryton leaders took action to protect the public's interest.  In Ludington, the Community Development Director for years helped direct the Ludington Downtown Development Authority's funds and the city's general funds into her husband's private enterprise, where during that time he was serving on the DDA and/or as a city councilor.  Never did they do the minimal amount of public disclosure required by law as tens of thousands of dollars were filtered to his business without competitive bids or a contract.  In this respect, we should be envious of Barryton and their proactive leaders.

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I'm always willing to listen to rationale behind these occurrences, but I'm also very willing to challenge the rationale for keeping things secret when the public should be involved in some scale.  On their city website, you can't find anything that would indicate there has been a major shakeup, you even have Chad Lindsey serving on a variety of committees and nothing about the suspension of the clerk/treasurer who may have handled updates for the site.  The special meeting was noticed with the purpose only being labelled misuse of public funds.

In these village squabbles, there is always the chance that the accusing parties may actually be the 'dirty ones' and the ones that are publicly disgraced may have been whistleblowing.  I am mindful of Wayland, and Chief Dan Miller, who I originally suspected was part of the problem, but turned out to be one of the most virtuous public servants I know.  It happens often, and it usually happens when the accusers do not have a solid foundation, like it is here.  If I had more interest in the Barryton experience, you know I would be scouring the washbasin to find the truth.

Chad Lindsey not only served on 3 committees, he was the Chairman for the dam, sewer, and bldg. and zoning. As to trying to be secretive, the horse is already out of the barn already, so what's to hide? It should be obvious that the rest of the city officials already know exactly what and how much funds are in question and gone. So they should be forthcoming on the exact details now because both Lindsey's are already gone, one fired, the other suspended. Question seems to be are they still around Barryton now, or did they flee? And have the police been issued court warrants? And for what exactly? Those are the foundation for such allegations, and that can't be hidden, at least not for long now. Great find X, keep us updated please.

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