Feldpouch resigns; Lester appointed

A Vandalia aldermen known for openly voicing his opinion and asking questions resigned on Tuesday night, citing a resident’s plan to pursue a conflict of interest claim against him.

And even after he resigned from his Ward IV seat, Chad Feldpouch asked a question about a pending city project.

Right after the council accepted Feldpouch’s resignation, it approved local contractor Andy Lester as his successor.

Feldpouch, who was appointed to a Ward IV seat in March 2002 and then elected to the seat three times, read a letter of resignation that he prepared prior to Tuesday’s city council meeting.

“It is with deep regret that, effective immediately, I will be resigning from the Vandalia City Council as a Ward IV alderman,” the letter states.

“On the advice of (Fayette County) State’s Attorney Stephen Friedel, it is necessary for me to resign so that I may maintain my membership on another board.”

After the meeting, Feldpouch said he resigned from the council so he can continue serving on the Vandalia Park District Board of Trustees.

Feldpouch said he was faced with resigning from one of the two bodies after a resident hired a private attorney for the purpose of initiating legal action against him.

He said the resident, who has had an interest in removing him from the park district board, believes it is a conflict of interest for him to serve on both the city and park boards, and that that resident’s attorney has found case law in the Chicago area to support that argument.

Feldpouch said that Friedel notified him of that resident’s intentions. “He (Friedel) said, “I’ll let you sleep on it and decide what you want to do,’” Feldpouch said.

He said that Friedel told him that if he didn’t decide, the resident could initiate a civil lawsuit as a way of resolving the potential conflict of interest.

“If I didn’t make the decision, I probably wouldn’t be able to choose which board I wanted to continue serving on,” Feldpouch said.

“I’ve been on the park district board since 1999, and we’ve done some good things over that time period, including the walking trail in the parks,” he said, “and I want to continue working with the park board on projects like that that benefit the community.”

As the council accepted his resignation, Gottman said he feels that Feldpouch was a valuable member of the council.

“We’ve accomplished a lot in the community with you on the board,” Gottman said, noting that Feldpouch always voiced his opinion and represented the people of Ward IV.

Gottman picked Andy Lester to replace Feldpouch. Gottman also appointed Lester to replace Feldpouch on the streets, building and grounds (chairman), and lake committees.

“I think he’ll be a major asset (to the council),” Gottman said about Lester, who is the owner of Andy Lester Construction.

“He was born and raised in this community, and he has been very active in the community,” Gottman said.

The mayor said he wanted to act quickly in filling the vacancy, “because it’s very, very important that (the residents in) all of the wards in the city have a voice, and it’s important that we have someone in that ward with all of the issues coming up.”

Sitting in the audience later in the meeting, Feldpouch made it known that he will continue to be interested in the operation of city government.

During the public participation section of the meeting, Feldpouch asked, “Have we heard from Motown yet?”

Gottman and Director of Economic Development/Tourism JoAnn Givens both said, “No.”

That was the only discussion about Motown Technology and Sports Facility Inc., the Michigan-based group that has said it wants to build a $300-million sports and entertainment complex on Vandalia’s west side.

Feldpouch’s question was related to Motown’s failure to make good on a bad check it submitted to the city on Dec. 7.

That $17,500 check was reimbursement for a traffic study that the city had performed as part of the Motown project. Four days after receiving that check, the city learned that it had been returned.

A Motown representative told The Leader-Union last month that the Motown group was scheduled to meet on Jan. 29, and that it would give the proper authorization for a new check.

Motown has not submitted a replacement check, and Gottman said recently that the group has not responded to the city’s attempts to contact them.