PLYMOUTH — The Marshall County Commissioners passed a pair of actions that will leave a vacancy on the Marshall County Sewer District Board.
The Commissioners passed a resolution re-asserting their legal point of view that members of the appointed sewer board served at the will of the governmental body that appointed them and could be removed by that body at will.
The resolution passed unanimously, and upon that passing, Commissioner Jesse Bohannon made the motion to declare the seat on the board held by Thomas McFadden as vacant.
That passed unanimously as well, with the Commissioners to look at making an appointment to fill that vacancy at their next meeting.
President of the Commissioners Stan Klotz made clear his point of view that the action did not stop any any sewer projects in Marshall County and that the action was about the expenditure of nearly a million dollars before a project had been outlined, saying that that “our hands were forced” because of being uncomfortable with the amount of money spent. Klotz said that he believes that the grant money the project was expecting is “not there,” and he wanted a “wait and see” approach taken to the septic issues in the lake communities.
Bohannon went on to say that the move of the Commissioners was not about the board in general but more about McFadden’s leadership of that board.
The action now places the ball back in the court of the Marshall County Sewer District. At a previous meeting of the Commissioners, legal counsel for the Sewer Board, Chris Nussbaum, came forward to present a differing opinion, with supporting case law, on the issue of the Commissioners’ ability to remove board members “at will”.
Commissioners Counsel Sean Surrissi said that the Sewer Board may now decide to go to court to have a judge’s decision on the issue.
