MOUNT VERNON – Mount Vernon Mayor Matt Starr and Law Director Rob Broeren on Wednesday issued Safety-Service Director Rick Dzik a two-week suspension without pay “for poor judgment,” Starr said.
Dzik changed the voting order by City Council members Monday night when two controversial issues were up for final votes. The College Township fire and EMS contract and the addition of a community advocate for the Police Department were approved by 4-3 votes.
Three council members were calling for Dzik’s dismissal or resignation over this voting order change and the accusation that he attended a College Township Trustees virtual meeting under an assumed name.
“While the voting order situation did not break any laws, it did break trust and he does need to have some punishment,” Starr said. “I don’t believe it is a fireable offense. But the punishment does have to sting.”
Dzik will start his suspension on Thursday.
“He has expressed sincere remorse and regret,” Starr said. “I am convinced that he will never do this again.”
The Safety-Service director also must apologize to council. Starr said it is important that while he caused some distrust between council and the City administration, he will give Dzik the opportunity to repair that damage. Dzik will take the lead role as Starr said it is not something he’s going to do for him.
Council also will have to decide how they want to respond to this, the mayor said. They have been told about the suspension.
“At the same time, we have to find a way to turn the page and move forward,” Starr said.
“I don’t think he and the administration realize this is not their meeting,” Councilmember Mike Hillier told the Mount Vernon News.
The only person who should change the voting lineup is the council president, he said. The mayor and Safety-Service director are his guests.
The mayor often tells council its job is legislative and not administrative, Councilmember Samantha Scoles said. The idea that the administration took control of the voting process lost a lot of trust on her part.
“If we can’t trust the person that’s the liaison between the administration and City council, how are we ever supposed to move the city forward?” she told the News.
Scoles brought the issue to the public’s attention by sharing with local media part of an email exchange with Starr about Dzik’s action.
“I could not have said it better,” Councilmember Tammy Woods said in her email reply. “The trust has been broken.”
“I support Samantha 100%,” Hillier said in his own email reply. “Mr. Dzik should resign. This cannot continue.”
Councilmember Tanner Salyers is ready to put the issue behind him. He said councilmembers should have discussed it internally instead of Scoles making it public.
“I think it was incredibly inappropriate and disrespectful on our part, especially considering that it’s targeting members of our own City council and making them look incompetent,” Salyers said.
“Frankly, if the voting order is the concern of other council members and it’s what sways them, then they probably shouldn’t serve on City council,” he said.
Salyers called council’s regular voting order “stupid.”
“I am proposing an ordinance at our next meeting that will permanently change how we vote,” he said. “We will vote in order of our ward, and at-large members will cast their votes according to their surnames alphabetically.”
Salyers said if councilmembers are serious about fixing this, they will support the measure.
“If they want to get flustered and kick up dust...well, they’ll just keep doing what they’re doing,” he said.
