09-17-2020 Coloma Mayor  Polashak announces retirement; Fire officials reinstated; Fire Board to rev

Coloma Mayor Polashak announces retirement

By Angela Widdis

For the first time in more than 10 years, the City of Coloma council meetings will be missing a familiar face. James (Jim) Polashak announced earlier this month that he has decided to retire after 13 years on the city council as mayor, after his term ends this November.

The Coloma City Council, in preparation for Polashak’s retirement, will call on Mayor Pro-Tem Marsha Hammond to fill the office duties of mayor if needed until the new mayoral elections are decided.

The man as the mayor

After serving on the Coloma council for nine years, Polashak won his first mayoral election when he ran unopposed in November 2007. He ran again for the office in 2011 and won with 161 votes.

In 2015 and 2019 Polashak won re-election to bring his third term as mayor to a final total.

As mayor, he is most proud of working on continuous improvements to the landscape of the greater Coloma area. He was noted in 2015 to have aspirations to plant shade trees and add benches in Baker Park.

Jim stated, “I will miss it terribly [being the Mayor of Coloma], I enjoy all the people, and I can’t say enough how wonderful this area of Bainbridge, Coloma, Coloma Township, Hagar, and Watervliet are.”

He told the Tri-City reporter that he knows that there will be new ideas and changes and he hopes that they do not lose the history of this great area and blend both, new ideas and history, together to make the best decisions to move Coloma forward.

The man as a public servant

Jim Polashak has been an active public servant for over 40 years in the Coloma area.

He is a current Coloma Lions Club member where he has held many positions. One of Jim’s positions was District Governor in 1986/1987. During this time he was able to travel and attend an International Lions Club in Taipei, Taiwan. In that same year, Jim remembers that the Lions Clubs International became the first major service club organization to admit women as members.

Serving as both chairmen and co-chair of the Miss Coloma Pageant for over 10 years, Jim has worked with many youth of the community. Helping promote not only the Blossomtime Festival but Jim was also a driving force in the development of the Gladiolus Festival, which we now know as the Glad-Peach Festival.

Jim recalls that Mayor Glen Randall called him because he was an active Jaycee volunteer, to ask him to be one of the leads in promoting Coloma Township’s Golden Anniversary. Jim said that he and Roger Carter, the township supervisor at that time, wanted to promote both the Golden anniversary of the Township and the City’s celebration of their Silver Jubilee. They loved the way that it brought their community together that they started the annual event called the Gladiolus Festival which lasted for about five years after that first momentous celebration. It wasn’t long after that when the local Peach Society members came to them and offered to help offset any costs if they would add celebrating peaches as well as the glads in the festival. In the event now known as the Glad-Peach Festival, Jim and his wife Sherry were honored with being the Grand Marshals in the 2015 parade.

Polashak was a former member of the following committees and boards over his volunteer career: Joint Fire Board, Coloma City Planning Commission, Coloma Chamber of Commerce, North Berrien Community Development, Sarett Nature Center, and the Coloma Rod and Gun Club, to name a few.

The man as a citizen

Jim has been a longtime Berrien County resident. He graduated from Eau Claire High School in 1958 where there were 42 in his graduating class. He is still connected with his classmates. There are about 19 of them that still meet once a month for lunch.

In 1962, Jim moved to the area to work at Twin Cities Container Company. He then retired from what would later become Menasha in 2003 with over 40 years of service.

He and his second wife, Sherry, have been married for 32 years. His first wife passed away from cancer at the age of 30. Although Jim never had any children of his own, he proudly claims his step-children as his own.

Having a love for travel, he has been to 48 of the 50 states, all the territories in Canada, and to seven foreign countries. He really looks forward to traveling, gardening, and spending time with their rescue dog, and visiting with friends that he has made throughout his life, during retirement.

Later this month Jim will be honored by city officials, friends, and family at an event at Randall Park.

Police and Fire Reports

By Annette Christie

Fire officials reinstated; Fire Board to review everything

The Watervliet Joint Fire Board convened their meeting on Sept. 15, 2020, in the fire truck bays, to maintain six feet between individuals attending the meeting.

Following the standard monthly business, the board addressed a personnel matter that still lingered, however, would not identify what that matter was. Following their special meeting on August 27, 2020, Watervliet Fire Chief Dan Jones and 2nd Lt. Justin Scheetz were placed on paid administrative leave until the next meeting, which was held Tuesday night.

The minutes of that meeting reflect that the special meeting was called to discuss a personnel matter, to which both Scheetz and Jones asked for closed sessions. It was following those closed sessions that the board took the action of putting each of them on paid administrative leave.

The meeting Tuesday night had “personnel matter” under old business.

The board approved a motion to place a written warning in each of their files (Jones and Scheetz). There was some question on whether that type of action was allowed under board policy to which board member Joe Stepich said the policy gave the board the leeway to do whatever they felt appropriate.

Chairman Deane Fizzell said that all of the board members were presented with all the policies, handbook, employment agreement, and the fire board agreement between municipalities. With that, he said he would like all board members to go through the materials and note areas that needed updating or changed. In addition, he distributed payroll and administrative processes for the department so that could be updated also. He had hoped that at next month’s meeting they could go over the changes.

Stepich alluded to a situation and noted that in the course of this “situation”, the board has heard this and that and that the board needs to do a thorough job of looking at things, including themselves. “We need to take a look at ourselves; perhaps there are a lot of things that we didn’t see. We need to look at our processes and our procedures. This may not get done in a month,” Stepich said.

Board member Patt Bambrick said she has a tendency to look at projects, identify areas of need, and prioritize them. She wants to approach it in a manner that allows everyone to be heard, fire fighters, officers, and even the board. “Everyone deserves fair treatment,” Bambrick said.

Board member Melanie Marvin noted that she has reviewed the folder already and has questions recorded that she would like answers for. She said that what are needed are clear concise practices in place. She noted that while the board may have played a part in the department getting where it is today, as a board member she owns that. “We need to have clear expectations for ourselves, the officers, and all those serving on the department,” Marvin said. She wanted to identify a timeframe for the review of the materials provided and also the compilation of questions for Chief Jones.

Marvin made the motion to keep the chief on paid administrative leave as the board took time to review the materials, perhaps until September 30. That motion, supported by member Dave Brinker, failed from lack of support.

2nd Lt. Justin Scheetz asked about his status. He verified that he had not resigned and wondered what his status was. There was some back and forth between Scheetz and the board regarding training and department vs. state requirements. Chief Jones, also in the audience, stated that Scheetz is behind on some training as required by department policy. He noted that Scheetz has all the certifications as required by the state, however, some departmental training is lacking. Scheetz was reinstated as 2nd Lt. as well.

While further details of the incident would not be revealed by the board, the previous minutes of the Fire Board may give some kind of indication.

At the July 21, 2020 meeting of the Fire Board, Chief Jones stated that he would be restructuring the positions in the department and that it would affect firefighters and officers.

At the August 18, 2020 Fire Board meeting, the minutes state that Chief Jones informed the board that 2nd Lt. Justin Scheetz has resigned as 2nd lieutenant. He stated that Justin told him that he “just wants to be a black hat”. Chief Jones explained that Justin has not been showing up for any training and had only responded to two calls in three months. Dave Woodward confirmed that Justin is not up to date on his training and therefore, would not be allowed to respond. When asked if Justin had been notified of his “non-compliant” status, Chief Jones confirmed that, “He has been made aware.”

It was then on August 27, 2020, for a special meeting that each person involved was allowed to have a closed session and prior to adjourning that meeting, Scheetz and Jones were both placed on administrative leave with pay until September 15.

In re-instating both the chief and Scheetz, the board will move forward as they begin their review of the governing documents of the Fire Board and department.

In public comments, Marvin thanked Bill Whitney and all the firefighters that maintained the department while Jones and Scheetz were on leave.

Search warrant leads to multiple firearms & drug seizure in Benton Twp.

A narcotics search warrant executed by SWET-West detectives resulted in the seizure of multiple firearms, illegal drugs, and cash. The search warrant took place on Thursday, Sept. 10 at a residence on Milton Street in Benton Township.

During the search, detectives seized approximately 3.5 ounces of crack cocaine, two rifles, two pistols, three liters of promethazine, approximately 250 doses of ecstasy, and cash from suspected unlawful drug sales.

SWET detectives were assisted by Berrien County Sheriff’s Department Detective Division, FBI Violent Crimes Task Force and Michigan State Police.

The following suspects were arrested and lodged at the Berrien County jail on various felony charges: 25-year-old Larry Washington Brooks Jr. of Benton Harbor – possession with intent to deliver cocaine, felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime; 20-year-old Evorion Marshion Anderson of Benton Harbor – possession with intent to deliver crack cocaine, possession with intent to deliver cocaine, felon in possession of a firearm, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime; and 22-year-old Nathaniel Damontae Wigfall-Fultz of Benton Harbor – possession with intent to deliver crack cocaine, possession with intent to deliver cocaine.

All three suspects were arraigned in the 5th District Court on Sept. 11, 2020. Additional charges are being sought for other suspects related to this investigation. Those charges include possession with intent to distribute promethazine, maintaining a drug house, possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine and felony firearms.

The Southwest Enforcement Team (SWET) is comprised of sworn law enforcement personnel from the Berrien County Sheriff’s Office, South Haven Police Department, Covert Township Police Department, Benton Harbor Public Safety Department, Allegan County Sheriff’s Office, Barry County Sheriff’s Office, Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office, Hasting Police Department, Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office, Kalamazoo Township Police Department, Saint Joseph County Sheriff’s Office, Sturgis Police Department and Michigan State Police.

Governor announces futures for COVID frontliners’ free college

By Jon Bisnett

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, along with leaders in workforce development, has launched the first national program providing tuition-free college to an estimated 625,000 Michiganders who worked in essential, frontline services during COVID-19 Stay Home, Stay Safe orders between April – June 2020.

Futures for Frontliners is similar to the WWII era GI Bill by offering Michigan adults without college degrees or high school diplomas who provided essential services during the pandemic a no-cost means to get the skills needed to obtain high-demand, high-wage careers. The funding comes from a $24 million investment from the CARES Act.

Whitmer also announced a new $5 million ad campaign named “Spread Hope, Not COVID” to reinforce the wearing of masks throughout the state.

The State of Michigan Health Department will be sharing outbreak information at K-12 schools, college and universities. Every Monday at 3 p.m. the health department will list the name of the institution and the number of cases, between staff and students, on the state website. Outbreak is defined as two or more cases from a single source.

High school sports

The Michigan High School Athletic Association and student athletes are back in competition with football beginning this Friday night.

NCAA sports

The Big 10 conference schools met in closed door sessions throughout the weekend. Several press leaks would indicate they will vote to bring back fall sports, although nothing was official at press time.

Events during coronavirus

Thanksgiving will still have the NFL and as just announced the 94th annual Macy’s Parade. Macy’s officials said that the parade will be reduced to a one block length, with no street-side spectators this year along with revamped format for the television audience to be shot in front of Macy’s flagship store in New York City’s Harold Square.

Wear your mask, wash your hands, be kind whenever you can.