02092017 - News Article - Mayor's meeting absence brings critics, defenders

Mayor's meeting absence brings critics, defenders
Chicago Tribune
February 09, 2017
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-portage-mayor-absent-st-0212-20170209-story.html

Residents voiced a mixed bag of reactions for the City Council and for embattled Mayor James Snyder, who skipped the Tuesday council meeting.

Snyder later said he was visiting a friend in a hospital during the meeting, but immediately after the meeting, one of his staffers passed out written statements on city letterhead to local media.

The residents' comments seemed to show a city increasingly rattled by the contentious relationship between the mayor, the council and Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham.

"I feel there's an injustice here tonight," complained resident Edna Maturkanich, a regular at council meetings. "It's like you're roasting the mayor, and he isn't even here. It's like you guys were having a field day tonight. I know James Snyder, and I know he's innocent."

The council suspended rules requiring a second reading of an ordinance and voted to strip Snyder of his position on the Portage Utility Services Board and the chairman's job he holds. A second ordinance eliminating the position's salaries was expected to be heard again Thursday night, after Councilman John Cannon, R- 4th, voted against suspending the rules.

Other residents criticized the mayor for not showing up and for recent controversial actions, including a trip to Washington, D.C. where the mayor took two police administrators for a conference and the inauguration of President Donald Trump, mostly on the taxpayers' dime.

Last November, Snyder was indicted on federal public corruption charges.

Snyder, who left last month's council meeting about five minutes after opening the meeting, did not notify Council President Mark Oprisko, D-at large, or any other officials of his absence, Oprisko said.

"He's the chairman of this board," Oprisko said. "He should've had enough respect to call me or someone else on this board to get out of their seat and take over the meeting."

Immediately after the meeting, a Snyder staffer passed out a signed, written statement from the mayor dated Feb. 7. Snyder accused the council of "behaving in a way of presumption of guilt, which is the opposite of what America, Indiana and any decent citizen believes."

In the statement, Snyder also wrote his administration has "saved the City millions of dollars in waste, fixed more roads, buildings and infrastructure than any administration and have rejuvenated the pride in Portage."

Stidham said the council's actions had little to do with the indictment "and everything to do with" the mayor's efforts to pay his legal fees with utility services board funds last year.

Snyder's prepared statement also bothered Stidham.

"The council meeting happens at same time forever and ever and ever," Stidham said. "(Snyder) came for five minutes last month and left, and this month he didn't even bother to show up. Yet, the rest of the city's eight elected officials made it a priority. He should've been here doing his job"

Cannon, the only Republican on the council, who describes himself as a longtime friend of the Republican mayor, called said he and his colleagues have "aged 20 years in five days."

"This has been a tough night for me, but some things have to be done, because the public trust us to do a job," Cannon said.