Indictment cleaned North Township system
NWI Times
Nov 24, 2006
nwitimes.com/news/opinion/columnists/mark-kiesling/indictment-cleaned-north-township-system/article_958a3be8-d531-5b9a-b484-d43ca3bd0019.html
Nothing clears out the system quite like a habanero burrito or a federal indictment.
At least that seems like it was the case in North Township, where there may not have been any chili, but a federal tax-fraud indictment lopped off the leadership of former Trustee Greg Cvitkovich.
Cvitkovich was indicted in December 2004. In October 2005, he pleaded guilty, quit and was replaced by the current Trustee, Frank J. Mrvan. In April 2006, Cvitkovich was sentenced to five months in prison.
Not exactly the shining Camelot moment the township could've hoped for -- at least not until last week, when the Indiana Township Association named North Township its "township of the year."
So in less than a year, the township has gone from the wall of shame to the hall of fame.
When asked why North Township merited the honor, ITA President Debbie Driscoll said from her Fishers office that the honors committee was struck by the teamwork of the board, the trustee and the staff under "trying" circumstances.
"Do you mean the indictment?" I asked. Driscoll hesitated a moment.
"Well, yes," she finally said, apparently unaware from the safety of her suburban Indianapolis workplace that an indictment in Lake County is less embarassing than a case of bad breath.
Leaving aside for a moment the necessity of township government, particularly in places like North Township -- which is totally within incorporated cities and towns -- the committee's decision last Wednesday was not really a bad choice.
The indictment "really shakes you at the core of leadership. It shakes the board, and it shakes the staff," Driscoll said. "The trustee is the chief executive officer and the leader, and certainly Frank Mrvan is noteworthy. But I don't believe any one person could have done this by himself."
The "this" to which Driscoll referred was the turnaround in the aura in North Township. After Cvitkovich left, it took Mrvan a while, but he downsized the controversial office "liaison" Robert Cantrell, the former East Chicago Republican Party Chairman turned Democratic advisor extraordinaire.
Cantrell, who has made a lifetime career out of landing on his feet, is now teaching a political science course at Purdue University Calumet. And quite honestly, it would be difficult to think of a more qualified instructor on local politics.
"I'm very proud of North Township," Mrvan said, politely sidestepping the indictment of his fellow Democrat. "This shows what happens when a governmental entity works together with the community to improve a quality of life."
Of course, sometimes it takes a federal habanero burrito to get things going.
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