Fairview mayor defends work despite investigation

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November 13, 2009

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Fri Nov 13, 2009, 08:48 PM CST

By Derek Spellman

dspellman@joplinglobe.com

FAIRVIEW, Mo. — Now under investigation by the county Sheriff’s Department, the mayor of Fairview is defending the work for which he was paid by the city over the past few years and is trumpeting its impact on the town.

“I don’t know if I’ve been doing some wrongdoing, but I’m proud of what I’ve done,” Sid Oliver told the Globe on Friday. “I will hold my head up.”

No felony charge has been filed against Oliver, 57. The mayor was arrested by the Newton County Sheriff’s Department on Thursday night on suspicion of official misconduct, a misdemeanor, principally because Oliver, an unpaid mayor, allegedly received $10,403 in compensation from the city in 2007 and another $7,272 in 2008 for work that included street repairs and building maintenance, according to Sheriff Ken Copeland.

Oliver was released without having to post bond Thursday.

The Newton County prosecutor’s office had no comment on Friday, with a worker saying the office had not received any paperwork from the Sheriff’s Department. Copeland said his office would be forwarding that paperwork to the prosecutor.

“It’s not done by any means,” Copeland said of the probe.

Years of work

Oliver acknowledged he has done work for the city for years, ranging from street repairs to vehicle maintenance to work on the city water tower. A man who formerly worked in the mining industry and as an electrician, Oliver was appointed mayor in August 2004 and has been elected in his own right to that office twice.

He argues that the city has not been able to afford a full-time maintenance person — and that qualified maintenance people only seek full-time employment.

“Nobody has ever come along that was qualified that wants a part-time job,” he said.

He said he submits time cards to the city that are tracked, and that the total hours he works every month are included in the City Council’s regular financial report. He charges $8 an hour, and he said he often only bills a portion of the labor he puts in.

“There might be times I’m out there 40 hours, and I’ll turn in 15,” he said.

He contends he saved the city money that has enabled it to replenish coffers that were virtually empty when he became mayor and freed up money for a number of improvements, including new playground equipment, a new firetruck, an addition to the city firetruck barn, and the acquisition of vehicles like a dump truck, tractor and backhoe.

Carl Lee Kruse, one of the four other members of the Fairview City Council, agrees and supports the mayor.

He said he, too, is paid by the city for work on the city lagoon and irrigation system, estimating that he sometimes draws between $350 and $375 a month from the city but that it would have cost the city $800 a month to hire a professional.

The town just does not have “that kind of money,” he told the Globe on Friday, defending the mayor’s work in lieu of a full-time maintenance person. “We would be broke.”

State law

Yet Copeland said Missouri law imposes limits on how much compensation Oliver, as an unpaid mayor, may receive. That limit is $500 per transaction or a total of $5,000 per year, unless the work is done after competitive bidding with proper public notice and after the bid is the lowest submitted.

“I was not aware of that statute,” Oliver said.

Marilyn Brown, another City Council member, declined to comment on the sheriff’s investigation when reached by the Globe on Friday.

Louise J. Ray, another council member, said she was unaware of the investigation.

“He tries to be nice to everybody,” she said of Oliver, although she said she was “unhappy with the way things get done” and questioned the purchase of new vehicles that do not seem to get used very often.

A listed phone number could not be found for John Gilbert, the other council member.

By the numbers

The population of Fairview was estimated to be 417 in 2006, according to the state of Missouri.

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Fairview mayor defends work despite investigation

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