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Trustee Taletha Coles files for re-election, as state reveals records it took from Fairfield Twp. for audit

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Trustee Taletha Coles files for re-election, as state reveals records it took from Fairfield Twp. for audit

Plus, a second bill targeting township trustees survives to see second half of ’22 General Assembly session

Dave Bangert
Feb 2, 2022
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Trustee Taletha Coles files for re-election, as state reveals records it took from Fairfield Twp. for audit

www.basedinlafayette.com
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Fairfield Township Trustee Taletha Coles, standing, confronts township board members about spending cuts they discussed during an October meeting. (Photo: Dave Bangert)

Today’s Hunker Down Edition is brought to you, in part, by sponsor Little Engine Ventures. For more about what the Lafayette company does, scroll to the bottom of the newsletter.

COLES FILES FOR RE-ELECTION, AS STATE REVEALS TOWNSHIP RECORDS IT HAS

What exactly the State Board of Accounts is looking for in Fairfield Township Trustee Taletha Coles’ financial records isn’t clear.

But now we know what state agency in its hands – and it’s quite a bit, a state official said Tuesday – as the State Board of Accounts continues an audit of the township books in August 2021.

Meanwhile, Coles – in a running feud with her board and the subject of two bills in the Statehouse directly tied to her management of the township office – filed  Tuesday to run for re-election, according to Tippecanoe County election office records.

That sets up a Democratic primary May 3 between Coles and township board members Monica Casanova and Rocky Hession.

First a significant piece of audit update …

Coles raised all sorts of speculation late last week when she sent notes to Fairfield Township Board Rocky Hession and lawyers for the Journal & Courier, saying she couldn’t fulfill their public records requests for financial records because she didn’t have them.

Here was her note, sent to Hession Friday:

“I returned to the office today after having Covid and found a letter from you. In response to your letter, all of my financials are at the SBOA office and will not be returned to me for 3-6 months. At the time of the returned Fairfield Township financial documents I will contact you and give you a time frame as to when the documents will be available for your review. Thank you and have a wonderful day.”

This week, Indiana State Police Sgt. Jeremy Piers said ISP was working with the State Board of Accounts and that the “SBOA is in possession of documents that were turned over by Fairfield Township.” 

On Tuesday, Paul Lottes, general counsel for the State Board of Accounts, told Based in Lafayette that the state agency “took possession” of some township records on Jan. 11. He said it was part of the audit he confirmed in August.

Lottes said that “in an effort to avoid any confusion about the location of certain financial records of Fairfield Township,” he confirmed the State Board of Accounts had the following:

  • Financial statements/ledgers

  • Bank statements

  • Vendor invoices to support disbursements

  • Receipts

  • Payroll records

  • Board minutes

  • Resolutions

  • Vehicle titles

  • Death certifications

“We anticipate that we should be able to return the records to the township in March 2022,” Lottes said.

No other details about the audit were offered Tuesday. (The same was true when the audit started in August.)

Coles did not immediately return a message and a call for comment about the audit, her records or her re-election bid.

Coles, a Democrat in her final year of her first term as trustee, has rejected or ignored records requests from her township board and media outlets, as questions fester about her spending and accounting. (See: The Fairfield Township budget hearing, when she circled the table, swapping accusations. Video included.)

If you’re looking for a recap, here’s an account from the weekend that covers some of the high points, along with plenty of links for the details – including how Coles insists that how she runs the township affairs is her business, no one else’s.

Based in Lafayette, Indiana
A new twist in state audit of Fairfield Twp. trustee’s finances
The plot thickens about financial records Fairfield Township Trustee Taletha Coles has been reluctant to give up – a move that drew the attention and an ongoing audit by the State Board of Accounts last summer. On Friday, she told Rocky Hession, president of the Fairfield Township Board, that she couldn’t give him a collection of accounting records – including statements for credit card spending, as well as for the township’s checking and savings accounts – that he asked for in a Jan. 3 public records requests. The reason: She didn’t have them…
Read more
2 years ago · 4 likes · 1 comment · Dave Bangert

SPEAKING OF TOWNSHIPS … ANOTHER BILL TARGETING TRUSTEES PASSES

The second of two bills inspired by the trustee woes in Wabash and Fairfield townships in the past year cleared the Indiana Senate Tuesday.

Senate Bill 304, co-sponsored by state Sen. Ron Alting, a Lafayette Republican, passed on a 36-12 vote Tuesday. The bill would make it easier for communities to oust a township trustee who proves to be a problem.

Sen. Rick Niemeyer, a Lowell Republican, and Alting touted the bill as a multi-stage approach to removing township trustees who didn’t show up to serve or were otherwise derelict in their duties.

The Senate bill is modeled after one  signed into law in April 2021, targeting certain county elected officials – auditors, treasurers, recorders, surveyors and assessors – who were no-shows on their jobs. The law laid out a process for county commissioners to call for the elected official’s ouster. The county council also would need to agree. Then a judge would get final say whether the elected official was doing a poor enough job to lose their position. At each stage, the elected official accused has ways to defend themselves in public hearings or in court, according to the law. Senate Bill 304 would add another step, initiating the process with a majority vote of a township board.

Alting told senators that criminal charges caught up with Wabash Township Trustee Jennifer Teising. But he said the township should have had some other recourse as things went so badly with a trustee living far from her township. (I’d go deeper into that, but you know the story by now, right?)

Jennifer Teising, left, former Wabash Township trustee, enters court with her attorney, Karen Celestino-Horseman, during her three-day trial in December. A just ruled she was guilty of theft because she collected township paychecks without maintaining a residence in Wabash Township. She plans to appeal. (Photo: Dave Bangert)

The bill has been endorsed by the Indiana Township Association. Sen. Greg Taylor, an Indianapolis Democrat, raised warnings he brought up two weeks ago when the bill advanced out of a Senate committee. His point: If made law, it could be a step toward taking decisions about who should be in office out of the hands of the voters.

The measure faces its next test in the Indiana House during the second half of the General Assembly’s session.

Swapping sides, House Bill 1157, sponsored by state Rep. Chris Campbell, was approved on an 86-0 vote Jan. 20. The West Lafayette Democrat’s bill would force township trustees to submit township board-approved annual budgets to the state rather than letting budgets from the previous year roll over. Fairfield Township Trustee Taletha Coles ignored cuts in the 2021 budget and vowed to ignore them again in 2022. (Hence, the audit. See above.)

WINTER STORM, HELLO

Help me out here. Do I want to look outside at what the storm brought overnight? The National Weather Service was predicted more than 10 inches between now and early Friday.

The better question is: Did you get your vehicle off the street? Lafayette, West Lafayette and Purdue were stressing that Tuesday, with snow emergencies in the two cities and plow warnings on main campus roads.

Here are some quick ways into the maps and other details about the roads:

  • Lafayette’s snow routes: Click here.

Twitter avatar for @WestLafayetteIN
West Lafayette, IN @WestLafayetteIN
Winter Storm Warning Declared for the City of West Lafayette
lnks.gdWinter Storm Warning Declared for the City of West Lafayette
7:09 PM ∙ Feb 1, 2022
Twitter avatar for @LifeAtPurdue
Purdue University @LifeAtPurdue
Individuals using on-street parking on snow routes must move vehicles from Purdue and City of West Lafayette snow routes by 11 p.m. today (Feb. 1) in order to avoid being towed at the owner’s expense. These routes are shown on the online map: purdue.university/3s7zZ4P
Image
8:27 PM ∙ Feb 1, 2022
18Likes11Retweets

Pro tip: As Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski was announcing the city’s snow emergency Tuesday, he suggested that residents hold off on shoveling sidewalks immediately Wednesday. He said that with the snow expected to come over two days, city plows likely would make several passes, pushing snow back up onto sidewalks. Duly noted.

CORRECTION

Faith Church and Faith Biblical Counseling, not Lafayette Citizens for Freedom, have hired Indianapolis law firm Barnes and Thornburg as it tracks pieces of West Lafayette’s proposed ordinance that would ban conversion therapy. The edition sent Tuesday night was incorrect. The web version of that story has been corrected. In case you missed it in your inbox Tuesday night, here you go …

Based in Lafayette, Indiana
WL mayor promises veto as council reworks ‘conversion therapy’ ban proposal, faith group ramps up fight
To hear David Sanders tell it, he had no idea about the history of past culture wars in the city to know who might feel targeted by a proposed ordinance he and fellow West Lafayette City Council member James Blanco proposed in late November to prevent unlicensed therapists from the practice of conversion therapy with minors…
Read more
2 years ago · 5 likes · 3 comments · Dave Bangert

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Trustee Taletha Coles files for re-election, as state reveals records it took from Fairfield Twp. for audit

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Trustee Taletha Coles files for re-election, as state reveals records it took from Fairfield Twp. for audit

www.basedinlafayette.com
Dave_Bangerts_Evil_Twin
Feb 2, 2022

This moron just never gives up....

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