The Argos Town Council members discussed an agreement with Chuck DeWitt and the Town of Argos when they met last week.
Argos Town Attorney Derek Jones said DeWitt oversees zoning and code enforcement for the town. In late 2023, the town council voted to terminate the agreement. This new agreement would be for a duration of 90 days.
“The agreement is basically the same terms that we’ve always been operating with Mr. DeWitt. The way I set it up was based on that first agreement,” said Jones. He added that there might be an incorrect pay scale listed in the agreement. “So, in the document I had, it was based on $3,000 per quarter. It’s only a 90 day term. So, it’s kind of a feeler, or temporary term. But it does say $3,000. I looked at the addendum and I realize now that we basically we were operating on a per quarter basis of $2,750. I’ve also set it up to be a monthly payment which would amount to $916.67 per month to be paid by the town.”
Jones added that in the agreement, it states that either party could terminate the agreement with a 30-day written notice.
Council Member Harley stated that prior to the last meeting, there was an executive session with DeWitt. He asked Barcus, “At the last meeting, we had discussed all those things in our exec session with Chuck. I’m not going to bring them out on the table publicly right now, but I know you’re aware of everything, all of our concerns and kind of the direction we want to go. Do you feel we can still do that under the terms of this contract?”
Vice President Barcus replied, “Yes…I think we’re in a good position because, first of all, nothing that we’ve really asked him to do was outside of what that contract said anyway. So, I think this gives us some accountability within that first 90 days and that gives us, you know, either do it or we go on after the 90 days. That was my intent of moving it to a 90 day contract rather than extending it for the whole year and then doing the 30 day termination. I thought the 90 days would give him an opportunity to show a good faith effort that he’s going to do that. And I think we would be in good shape with that.”
The council approved the contract pending the pay scale change as well as a typo. The contract will be effective from Jan. 6 to April 6.
