Fairfield Township bounces back from public's distrust caused by ex-trustee

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Former embattled Fairfield Township Trustee Taletha Coles raised the white flag a year ago today and resigned just hours before a judge planned to decide whether to remove her from office.

Much has changed in that year, but the effects of Coles' tenure still are felt inside the township office.

“I was completely shocked when she resigned because she had been holding on this whole time as we were trying to oust her," current Trustee Monica Casanova said Oct. 13.

Coles resignation ended a two-year fight to get access to public documents about her use of taxpayer money.

Coles refused to allow the public to inspect township documents, denying access to the township board, the public and news outlets. A lawsuit by the Journal & Courier forced Coles to produce credit card statements, which indicated a pattern of using taxpayer money for personal items.

More: Fairfield Township taxpayers funding trustee's meditation, massages, online learning

Coles resignation also marked the beginning of her legal battle.

Two weeks after resigning, a grand jury indicted Coles on 42 counts, including four counts of official misconduct — one for each years she was in office. Her trial is scheduled to begin Dec. 4 in Tippecanoe Superior 1.

More: Indictments against former Fairfield Township Trustee Coles include 42 charges

Coles and former Wabash Township Trustee Jennifer Teising both were the muses for a new Indiana law that provided a four-step process to ouster rogue trustees, which was in the final step when she resigned. The law went into effect on July 1, 2022, and the township board took the first step to remove Coles in July 2022.

Coles' successors inherit mess

“What a mess it was. All the papers," Casanova said, recalling the disorganization that they found after Coles' resignation. “The office was kind of trashed, too. All kinds of papers all over the desks. Boxes.”

Township Board President Perry Schnarr first inherited the duties of trustee until after voters decided who would be the next township chief executive.

Casanova, who served on the township board last year, was elected trustee Nov. 8. She took the office early on Nov. 28, 2022, relieving interim trustee Schnarr, who returned to his duties of township board president. Schnarr is the only township board member remaining in office who served throughout Coles' term.

“When I took over, it was a nightmare,” Schnarr said of the six weeks he spent in the role of interim trustee.

Given all the mistrust generated by Coles financial management, Schnarr felt the weighty responsibility of signing township checks.

“I’ve never signed so many checks in my life,” he joked.

More: Casanova sworn in as Fairfield Township trustee

As part of its investigation, Indiana State Police confiscated the township's computers after serving warrants at the office on May 20, 2022, and Schnarr found a closet full of obsolete computer towers.

More: Fairfield Township untangling finances in wake of trustee's resignation

Former township board member Rocky Hession now works for the township as a bookkeeper. He remembered the frantic days trying to untangle the township's finances with the help of Bill Jones, the Tippecanoe Township trustee and a consultant for other townships.

Hession and Casanova attribute the success of righting the township records and getting basic computers up and running to Jones, as well as two former township employees, Kelli Stump and Teresa Meyers, both of whom Coles fired in her first year in office.

“It really was a community effort to come in here and change it around,” Hession said.

Casanova credits Stump and Meyers with setting them up for success by training her and the new staff.

What surprises did the new trustee find?

Coles appears to have been planning to resign weeks before Oct. 19, 2022, Casanova said.

“Being on this side, I can see all the email exchanges she had," Casanova said. "Now I realize she’d been thinking about resigning before that.

“She was applying for jobs, too,” Casanova said.

Coles apparently used the township computers to create her resume and search for employment. Casanova found Coles' resume on the township's cloud-based storage, Casanova said. She provided the J&C with a copy of Coles' resume.

Using the email on Coles' resume, the Journal & Courier asked the former trustee for comment about her using the taxpayer-funded equipment to job search and create her resume. She did not respond.

Coles also was having the township's employee trying to find a way out of trouble for the trustee.

“She was having (the employee) research all of these public officials who have gotten into trouble, specifically trustees,” Casanova said. “There were just stacks of that. And printouts of all her coverage of her tenure, too.

“There were printouts of those articles, so she was keeping track of the coverage.”

The lingering effects of Coles' administration

“There was a lot in the beginning," Casanova said of the damaged caused by Coles. "A lot to clean up and a lot of credibility and trust to rebuild.

“I think we’ve re-established that.”

Since the state police and the Indiana State Board of Accounts had all of the township's newer computers, the taxpayers had to pay roughly $4,000 for new software, hardware and tech support to get up and running again with new computers, Hession said.

The taxpayers had to pay $13,000 to cover the Journal & Courier's attorney costs for its lawsuit, and taxpayers had to pay $5,100 to a vender who had sued the township, Casanova said.

All totaled, Casanova and Hession estimated it was roughly $30,000 in expense to get the office up and running an settle past problems caused during Coles' nearly four-year tenure.

Casanova kept the pickup truck Coles purchased for the cemetery without the board's approval. She allegedly drove the truck for personal use and allegedly drove it while intoxicated, according to previous employees who rode in it and witnessed the allegations.

The truck is now parked at the barn across from Greenbush Cemetery, which the township is responsible for, and it is solely used for township business.

Casanova consulted the township's attorney and based on that advice, sold the township's Ford Crown Victoria, putting $1,000 back into the coffers.

She also sold the exercise equipment for a few hundred dollars, Casanova said. Coles purchased the equipment with more than $5,000 of taxpayer money, based on township records.

Positive changes in the trustee's office

Casanova and the board initially closed the credit card that Coles is accused of misusing.

Casanova used a debit card the first eight months of her time in office. But over the summer, Casanova received word that hackers had compromised accounts — not the township's, Casanova said. The State Board of Accounts recommended a credit card, which offers better fraud protection.

Since July, the township has two cards — one with a $4,000 limit for the trustee, and a second with a $500 for the cemetery maintenance and grounds keeping.

At the request of the Journal & Courier, Casanova shared credit card statements and receipts. The charges appeared to be legitimate township business.

“It’s a complete turn around,” Schnarr said of Casanova's administration.

“We’ve got transparency,” he said, noting that Casanova shares all the township’s business with the public and the board. “She lets us know everything what’s going on. Her and I work together.”

Not everything Coles created has been undone.

During the Journal & Courier's investigation of Coles in 2021 and 2022, Stump and Meyers complained that Coles installed cameras in every office. Coles then spied on the township employees by accessing the cameras from her phone, according to other former employees.

Casanova decided to keep the cameras for security. Coles installed cameras in every office but hers, as well as in the office lobby and the conference room and outside.

The difference is that Casanova does not access the cameras or the stored video unless there is a reason — and there hasn't been, she said. If she wanted to access the camera footage, she would have to have an employee do it. The link to the video surveillance is not on her computer or her phone, Casanova said.

Getting back to assisting those who need help

Casanova has gotten back to the roots of township government, which is assisting those who need help and providing fire protection, Hession said.

Casanova and the board also made taxpayer donations to the Lafayette Fire Department, which provides fire protection for the portions of the township that fall outside of city limits.

Former Trustee Julie Roush established an informal practice of donating $100,000 a year to the Lafayette Fire Department, but Coles refused to continue the practice.

Casanova's administration made back payments and plans to purchase a tanker truck for the fire department in 2025.

As for township assistance, from Jan. 1 through Oct. 19, 2022, Coles received 118 request for assistance, and she paid out $44,261 to help people, Casanova said.

From Oct. 20 — the day after Coles resigned — through the end of the year, the township received 60 more requests for assistance and paid out $15,925 to help people, Casanova said.

All totaled in 2022, the township received 178 requests for assistance and 173 people received help from the township, Casanova said.

In comparison, since Jan. 1, through Oct. 13, 2023, the township has received 354 requests for assistance, and 281 people received help.

So far in 2023, the township has paid a total of $104,755 in assistance to the needy. Of that amount, $83,840 has been for housing and $15,600 has been for 13 cremations.

The township's assistance house, which is adjacent to the offices on Wabash Avenue, has been cleaned out and is now housing people who otherwise might be homeless.

Coles did not use the house, choosing to store several washers and dryers in one bedroom room of the house.

Those washers and dryers all worked and were donated to help the needy, Casanova said.

The township's future

Transparency has been restored to the township, and Casanova is working with the township board, Schnarr said.

There are heating and air-conditioning problems being addressed at the office and the adjacent assistance house, which are being addressed.

There is interest from board members in installing solar panels on the township office roof, Casanova and Hession said. To do that will require replacing the roof, which the board and Casanova are looking into the expenses.

One-million dollars of the township's cash reserves, which Coles proposed spending down in the 2023 budget, have been invest this year, and has already added nearly $31,000 in revenue that might be used for projects such as the proposed solar panel on the roof, Casanova said.

Casanova, Hession and Schnarr all agree that the last year has been challenging, but they have eclipsed the distrust Coles created in the office and the township, and the future, they say, is bright.

Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Fairfield Township bounces back from distrust caused by ex-trustee