by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Very little was accomplished at the Wellington City Council meeting #2 held at the Wheat Capital Manor today.

All six council members were in attendance, but three Wellington Housing Authority board members: J.P. Buellesfeld, Kelli McComb and Darlene Ferguson were not.

The council made the unusual motion at last week’s meeting to extend the discussion of problems between the WCM administration and three members of the WHA to today at the manor recreation room so that both sides could be represented. However, since the three members were not there, much of what was discussed were points already previously made at the council meeting and in Friday’s Newscow article (click here).

Melissa Hamlin

WHA Executive Director Melissa Hamlin opened the meeting reviewing items related to the controversy including a timeline of the various e-mails from WHA Chairman J.P. Buellesfeld and incidents surrounding those e-mails.

Hamlin also addressed what she felt were several discrepancies in the Newscow article and the comments section.

Hamlin stated: 

•The e-mail for which three members of the staff  and their families were not to contact the board members was sent on Nov. 17. The impetus for which the e-mail was made: i.e. Mike Hamlin, Melissa’s husband, bringing the HUD guideline handbook to the office in a rude manner, occurred on Nov. 25.

•Mr. Hamlin has never been in board member’s Kelli McComb’s office as was reported.

•Ms. Hamlin had never named the candidates that were up for a job position, as was alleged by board members. Editor’s Note: Hamlin had never used names in describing job applicants, but at a press meeting held in early December, she did describe the relationships of the applicants to a WHA board member.  

•The U.S. Department of Housing and Development has given the WCM an exceptional review for 10 years running after its annual audit.

•Tim Nance was hired to do lawn care after the WCM fired the lawn care company previously to finish off the year.

Wellington Mayor Roger Stallbaumer said he felt this could be worked out through open discussion by both sides. He said he met with Hamlin and McComb earlier last week and felt it was a productive meeting.

Wellington council member Jim Valentine asked Eckert if an investigation was recommended. Eckert said he would be the person in charge of such an investigation but he would like to hear from both sides before making any recommendations. He said he was having a hard time getting hold of the other side.

Wellington council member Vince Wetta asked Hamlin if she felt threatened for her job. Hamlin said yes she has especially after e-mails that said she needed to hire an attorney and not to contact the board members.

WHA board member Dennis Guinn, one of two WHA members at the meeting, said he was worried if an emergency developed, for example a boiler going out, Hamlin would not be able to move forward because she could not contact board members.

Wellington council member John Brand said he can’t blame the three members for not attending today’s meeting because it was before Christmas and they weren’t contacted before the meeting date was set by the council.

Wetta asked hypothetically that if you got rid of the three WHA board members, who would you have to replace them?

“I’ll be honest with you, it does feel kind of intimidating coming into a room like this when you have all these people here demanding answers,” Brand said.

Hutchison responded by saying, “Oh, yeah, we are intimidating with all our wheel chairs.”

Board member B.J. Tracy said the new bylaws state that advisory and authority board members can’t miss three meetings in a row. The Nov. 25 WHA meeting was canceled due to not having a forum.

Council member Jan Korte said she felt an investigation is needed which would result with the city attorney making a recommendation. She felt the divisiveness stems from personalities not because of HUD stipulations not being adhered to.

Wetta asked Hamlin when did this conflict between her and the WHA members occur. She said everything was fine up until the two hirings.

Wetta suggested the city council should all attend the WHA meeting on Dec. 30. Stallbaumer said he worries that it could be a violation of the open meetings act if all the members were there.

Hamlin said she no longer trusts the three WHA members anymore after they turned the information upside down in the newspaper.

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