St. John IN Council Boots Fire Chief, Town Manager, Other Officials

Jan. 4—ST. JOHN — Just a few days after taking office, St. John's new Town Council has already ousted the town manager, fire chief, town attorney and parks superintendent.

During a Monday night special meeting, the council approved a town manager employment agreement for former ward three town council candidate Bill Manousopoulos.

Manousopoulos replaced former Town Manager Joe Wiszowaty who was hired in March of 2022. Manousopoulos is the town's fourth town manager in four years; Craig Phillips resigned in January of 2021 after just 10 months on the job and former Cedar Lake Town Manager Chris Salatas left St. John after only nine months.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Manousopoulos most recently worked as the director of public works for the Village of Glenwood; prior to that he was the director of public works for Calumet City for 13 years. Manousopoulos has lived in St. John for 15 years.

"I'm excited to bring this council's vision to life," Manousopoulos said during the Monday meeting.

Manousopoulos unsuccessfully ran as an independent against incumbent Republican Councilman Gerald Swets during the 2022 general election.

The St. John Town Council experienced a bit of a sea change during the most recent election season. Three Republican newcomers joined the council during the primary election; Ann Oster beat incumbent ward one representative Bryan Blazak, Mike Bouvat earned one of the council's two at large seats, beating incumbent Mike Aurelio and newcomer Theresa Birlson, and former Lake County Councilman Christian Jorgensen was unopposed in the ward two race. Incumbent Wayne Pondinas won the town council's other at large seat.

Incumbent Clerk-Treasurer Beth Hernandez beat challenger Kim Schaver in the Republican primary. St. John did not hold a general election as no Democrats were on the ballot in 2023.

The new St. John Town Council includes only two incumbents — Pondinas and Swets. During the Jan. 1 meeting the council elected Bouvat president and Jorgensen vice president.

During that meeting, the council also voted to replace a large number of board and commission members and hired Joe Svetanoff, of the law firm Kopka Pinkus Dolin, as town attorney. David Westland was town attorney as recently as the Dec. 27, 2023 council meeting.

Swets voted against every piece of legislation on the Monday night agenda. He said the special meeting was not "duly and properly called" and was in violation of Open Door Law.

"I want it on the record that I never received any formal notice of this meeting, I never received any documentation for this meeting, I was never notified about any meeting. In fact, I found out about this meeting from a friend," Swets said. "It is not my intention to diminish the excitement of the council taking power, but doing things right, properly and transparently matters."

During a regular council meeting held the following evening, Svetanoff said the Jan. 1 meeting was properly called by Pondinas.

"We have again reviewed the legal notices and they are in proper form under Indiana code," Svetanoff said.

During the Jan. 2 meeting the council voted to appoint Shane Adams as fire chief. Adams will replace former Chief Kevin LaDuke, who was named chief in January of 2021. The council unanimously approved Adams' appointment, however, Swets did not attend the Jan. 2 meeting.

In an email to The Times, Bouvat said LaDuke was re-assigned to his former position of firefighter/paramedic due to "a breach of employment agreement" that required LaDuke to live in St. John for at least two years after becoming chief. Adams was formerly the Lake Hills fire chief.

Bouvat also said the parks superintendent position, which had been held by Michael O'Shea, was eliminated. According to Bouvat, the St. John Parks Department had been over budget. He said there are no plans to fill the superintendent position at this time.

During the Jan. 2 meeting, the council also approved an ordinance changing the town's personnel, policy and procedure manual.

"The changes that are being made will allow the town to undertake organizational restructuring that quite honestly is a direct result of the four years of fiscal irresponsibility, lack of a balanced budget and deficit spending," Bouvat said. "Our new town manager needs this revisions to the policy, personnel manual to implement the necessary organizational changes."

The council also voted to eliminate the Storm Water Board, as Bouvat said the board "serves no other purpose than to establish another layer of town government," and changed the "Board of Safety" back to the "Board of Metropolitan Police Commissioners."

"This Town Council, or at least the majority, have certain goals that we would like to achieve to get our town back on track and financially healthy," Bouvat said during the Monday special meeting. "The items on our agenda today represent the start of that process. A great deal of thought and preparation has gone into the changes that need to be made."

St. John committee and council meetings have been particularly contentious in recent years, with Pondinas often voting against the other members of the former council. Tensions reached a boiling point in April of 2022 when the council voted to eliminate the Park Board, a board Pondinas was council liaison to. Bouvat was the former Park Board president.

The Park Board was ultimately reinstated with some new members.

Bouvat said the new council hopes to reduce the town's operating expenses and "restore fiscal responsibility."

"The changes that were made were not taken lightly and were extremely difficult, however they had to be made for the welfare of the town," Bouvat said.

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