Buchanan mayor resigns

BUCHANAN — The Buchanan City Commission will soon have a new member and a new mayor after Mayor Sean Denison’s sudden resignation Monday night. His resignation also eliminates the recall election against him that had been scheduled for November.

A recall against Denison over his suspension of then City Manager Benjamin Eldridge last fall was certified in May and he was expected to face former City Commissioner Scott King in November. King announced in May that he was running to bring transparency, accountability and fiscal responsibility back to the city.

City Clerk Kalla Langston said after the meeting that the recall election is now off. Michigan law states that if the person under recall resigns after the calling of a recall election, the election shall not be held.

As for replacing Denison, she said the commission will have to accept Denison’s resignation and then have 30 days to appoint someone to serve the remaining two years of Denison’s term. Mark Weedon is currently mayor pro-tem and could be appointed mayor until after the November election.

Denison had mentioned the possibility of resigning three weeks ago, saying that his name had been dragged through the mud over the past 10 months. Monday, he said he had strived since coming on the commission in 2018 to leave the city a better place and credited city staff and volunteers for giving their time and energy to the city.

He spoke of a small group of “small minded people” who he said continued to insult, bully and post lies and rumors on social media.

“I strive to be a person of character, my values won’t bend for anyone here,” he said. “I will not look the other way when I see bullying or people making racist or sexist statements.”

He said the situation had reached the level that was “beyond acceptable” even though he had tried to treat others with respect. He said he was choosing to resign immediately to focus on his health and family and to enjoy life.

The only person he mentioned by name was fellow City Commissioner Dan Vigansky. Denison had pushed for Vigansky to be censured and removed from office. A recall effort against Vigansky failed earlier this year.

“My criticism of Dan was not because I don’t like him but because his actions put the city at risk,” Denison said.

King said late Monday that he had mixed emotions about Denison’s resignation. He said he was glad to have been able to get out and talk to the citizens of Buchanan and had been looking forward to taking their concerns to the rest of the city commission in hopes of finding common sense solutions to make people’s lives better.

On the other hand, he said that Denison had showed disdain and an utter lack of respect for the people by not resigning soon after the recall was certified in May.

“It was not about me ever,” he said. “It was the people who got snookered who had had an ounce of hope that something would be done about their water bills, taxes and the infrastructure of neighborhoods.”

The city’s involvement with the Michigan Main Street program also appears to be in limbo with the resignation of the city’s assistant community development director, Ashley Regal. Regal had been spearheading the city’s efforts with LiveBuchanan relative to Michigan Main Street and the new small business incubator.

The city commission had been scheduled to take up the Michigan Main Street resolution including financial support for LiveBuchanan at their next meeting on Aug. 26. City Manager Tim Lynch said after the meeting that it’s still up in the air whether the matter will be taken up again then.

Lynch did said that he expects Regal’s position to be filled at some point in the future. He noted that the deadline to approve the Michigan Main Street resolution appears to be more flexible than initially thought last month. Regal had initially said that the city needed to act by the end of August or wait three years to apply again.

Monday’s meeting featured action on giving Lynch a pay raise after his annual evaluation done in a closed session earlier in the meeting. Commissioners gave him an overall positive evaluation which according to his contract bumps his annual salary from $104,000 to $110,000 retroactive to July 1.

Lynch was the interim city manager for a number of months last year and then was hired back after the city parted ways with Eldridge last November. His contract is currently for one year and the action taken Monday doesn’t extend the length of the contract.

Monday’s meeting featured action on approving updated by-laws for the Southwestern Michigan Community Ambulance Service. SMCAS Director Brian Scribner said the by-laws are being updated in light of plans to take on serving the Dowagiac area and other parts of Cass County in the near future. Dowagiac lost their ambulance service suddenly last year.

Scribner said the new by-laws makes it clearer as to how owner municipalities can be added or subtracted and how the service can contract to serve other areas.The by-laws change had to be approved by all six member municipalities and Buchanan was the last one to give its approval.

He gave more details about the Cass County venture as well as a possible merger with Medic 1, the service that covers much of the rest of Berrien County. He said there is a temporary agreement to serve Cass County and he expects a permanent agreement in the next couple of months. As for Medic 1, he said such a merger could be beneficial to both parties.

News came as well that the Buchanan Area Senior Center is going to relocate temporarily to its former home in the Red Bud City Center on South Oak Street in September as the parking lot at their current home on Rynearson is torn out and rebuilt. Center Director Adam Burck said the parking lot will cost the center $300,000.

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