Portage clerk fails to deliver promised documents
nwitimes.com-Jul 5, 2019
NWI Times
July 05, 2019
https://www.nwitimes.com/news/portage-clerk-fails-to-deliver-promised-documents/article_9306cc66-2f90-59be-90d7-055143135c7f.html
PORTAGE — Clerk-Treasurer Chris Stidham did not deliver the documents he promised to provide earlier this week to the Portage Board of Public Works by Friday.
The documents involve allegedly unapproved payments to three companies by his office.
He said Friday he "hit some snags" in producing the documents and would not be able to deliver all of them until Monday.
“Our online banking system does not have the backs of checks from 2015 and 2016, so now I have to pull them manually,” he said.
Stidham said he had provided copies of the fronts of the checks in question back in April to Mayor John Cannon.
He hasn't provided the other documents requested, including 1099 forms, invoices showing payments and copies of board of works dockets with the invoices listed.
“I plan on providing everything in one big batch,” Stidham said Friday. “I thought this process would be faster, but with the holiday things simply did not fall the way I expected.”
Stidham is alleged to have paid Keeping the Books, ERG Advisors and Paramount Technology Solutions a combined total of $70,000 and contracted them without the board's approval. A report released Tuesday alleges the companies in question are associated with his wife.
Cannon said he is frustrated with the situation.
"Either you have it or you don't,” he said. “Why come up at 9 a.m. to the board of works meeting and say that he'll have it all to us by Friday?”
Cannon claimed Council President Sue Lynch knew of the situation and was informed by former Mayor James Snyder of his suspicions on Stidham. He said he tried to get her involved with the investigation before the primary election in May, where she and Stidham were both running for the Democratic nomination for mayor.
“She said that it was going to be seen as political and didn't want to get involved,” Cannon said. “I'd rather lose an election than let the taxpayers lose money. She sat on this for months.”
Lynch said Friday she couldn't comment on the allegations.
“We need to stay out of the process as a council. We're not investigators and we need to turn it over to the people who are,” she said. “Let the proper authorities report back on what they find out and then they can proceed.”
The council has hired Porter County Council President Dan Whitten to represent the City Council over the situation.
Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann said he wants to find a special prosecutor from Lake County to look into the matter.
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