No one spoke in favor of Fairfield Township Trustee Coles keeping her job

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Fairfield Township Trustee Taletha Coles found only one supporter in her keeping her job through the end of her term in December — her attorney, Alexandra Hawkins.

Even Hawkins didn't speak in Coles' favor, per se, during the Tippecanoe County Commissioners' public hearing on Monday morning. Hawkins merely argued that the allegations against Coles must have been after July 1 when a new Indiana law took effect that allows a four-stop process to remove rogue trustees.

She made that point last month to the township board.

Neither Hawkins nor Coles answered reporters' questions after the public hearing.

The township board adopted a resolution last month to remove Coles on allegations she failed to do her job, listing points that she continues to be unresponsive to requests to inspect public documents.

The Tippecanoe County Commissioners' public hearing on Monday was the second step in the process to remove Coles.

The commissioners will call a special meeting before Sept. 4 to vote on whether to adopt a resolution to remove Coles from office, which is similar to the one adopted last month by the township board, Commission President Dave Byers said after Monday's public hearing.

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If the commissioners approve a resolution to remove Coles, the issue will be sent to the Tippecanoe County Council for a public hearing during its Sept. 13 meeting, Byers said. If the resolution advances to the council, they will have to wait at least 10 days after their public hearing before they vote.

If the council members approve a resolution to remove Coles, the issue will be filed in Tippecanoe Circuit Court where Judge Sean Persin will hear evidence and make a ruling.

During Monday's public hearing, former township employees — Trisha Fogleman and Kelli Stump — spoke out against Coles, reiterating their points from the July township board meeting.

Township Board President Perry Schnarr, Board Secretary Rocky Hession and Monica Casanova — board member and Democratic candidate for Fairfield Township trustee — took to the lectern to tell commissioners of Coles' alleged abuses of the taxpayer's money.

A new allegation surfaced when Hession told commissioners that Coles used the township credit card to purchase a utility trailer from Rural King on Dec. 31, 2019, when she already had purchased another utility trailer from an out-of-county business. Hession said Coles tried to return the Rural King trailer and have the refund applied to a different credit card.

Rural King refused to apply the refund on Coles' card and eventually refunded on the township card, which was used for the purchase, Hession told commissioners. Rural King representatives reached out to him and other board members when the refund became an issue, he said.

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During the public hearing Fairfield Township resident Ed Ward spoke out against Coles.

Ward, Wabash Township fire chief, went through personal struggles after then Wabash Township Trustee Jennifer Teising fired Ward in December 2020 just days before the Journal & Courier exposed that Teising did not live in the township, as required by law.

Teising has since been convicted of 21 counts of theft from taxpayers for receiving her paycheck while living outside of the township. But in the 12 months between the Journal & Courier's investigative report and her conviction, she wreaked havoc on the fire department, terminating all the paid firefighters because she could not find a funding source for the firefighters.

Teising spent 2021 creating upheaval in the township and the fire department until her conviction on Jan. 4.

Ward's termination caused hardships for him and his family, and he told commissioners on Monday that they could have used township assistance to get through the financial turmoil.

“Given all the drama taking place on this side of the river," Ward said, " … it made (township assistance) less of an option for me.

“I chose to try to utilize all the other resources available to try to avoid having to step in that mess,” he said. “I think it’s concerning on that level.”

What's more disconcerting is that Coles has not paid a $100,000 year stipend to the Lafayette Fire Department for fire protection in the unincorporated areas of Fairfield Township, Ward noted.

“As a township resident, I pay taxes for fire protection,” Ward said. “At the end of 2021, there was just short of $800,000 sitting in fire protection money that was collected from Fairfield Township not being dispersed to those providing fire protection. That’s equally concerning.”

"When the fire department gets to a place where trying to obtain that money becomes so difficult that you just stop asking for it and stop counting on that money, that’s a very big problem to me,” Ward said.

He also cautioned against letting Coles ride out last four months of her term since she lost her primary bid for re-election. He cited the damage done in Wabash Township by a vengeful trustee.

“If we get to a place of there’s that backed-into-a-corner feeling, crazy things begin to happen," Ward said. "We watched it happen. We lived with it. We walked through it."

Ward encouraged Coles' removal, saying he'd hate for the county and Fairfield Township to get to a place four months down the road when Coles' financial management comes to full light and to have known that some of the damage might have been prevented by her removal.

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

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: No one spoke in favor of Trustee Taletha Coles keeping her job