SUMMITVILLE, Ind. — Several topics became points of contention among the Summitville Town Council members and an unusually large number of residents at Monday night’s meeting — the town’s Main Street project, operations at the police department and the appointment of a new council member.

When Wayne “Buzz” Small — who was voted as president of the council during the last meeting — called the meeting to order at 7 p.m., former council president J.C. Hendrick interrupted saying that everything at the last meeting was void as Charlie Coates — appointed as a member then — was not legally on the council. The meeting was stopped until the council’s attorney, Tom Beeman, arrived a few minutes later.

According to state statute, Beeman said, a replacement for a council member appointed, not elected, must be approved by a council vote. During the last meeting, Coates’ appointment wasn’t voted on. When the council put Coates’ appointment up for a vote Monday, he didn’t receive the majority of votes and was no longer on the council.

But Small’s presidency stood, Beeman said, because even without Coates’ vote, he received the majority of the council’s votes.

During the previous meeting, a motion to go forward with a bond or a loan to begin funding the Main Street project wasn’t passed.

Dee Amos, one of the co-founders of the Summitville Main Street Organization, said she was disappointed that the council — specifically Small, council member Scott Kornbroke and Coates — were trying to “shoot down” the project.

“You know we have the funding for it,” she passionately pleaded to the board. “You just have to budget. ... If we can’t make an investment in our community, who is going to?”

The organization was founded in 2002 to help revitalize downtown Summitville with new streets, handicap sidewalks and new lighting. They had already received grants and thousands of dollars has already been spent to begin funding the project.

In April 2009, the council signed an engineering contract for $160,000 with Clark Dietz to complete the engineering design. The complete project cost would be close to $2 million now with the town having to match 20 percent of the project with the remaining funds coming from Indiana Department of Transportation. Grants received by the town go toward that matching requirement.

Amos said if they didn’t go forward they would be “throwing away” more than $932,000.

Small stressed that they didn’t vote the project down during the last meeting but instead they wanted to know where they were going to get the money. Amos explained that the town could get a bond for the remainder and at most would have to spend a little more than $21,000 a year. The town receives at least $24,000 in taxes from the state’s riverboats, she said.

During the discussion, Small and Amos both raised their voices speaking over each other.

“You need to listen for just a few minutes,” Amos said to Small, who argued that the council had not been told how much it would cost and that the riverboat revenue would be more than enough to cover the cost. “It is your job sitting in that chair to keep up with it.”

In the midst of the discussion, several of the more than 50 residents at the meeting shouted at Small from their seats, some even using profanity.

“Order,” Hendrick shouted banging his fist on the table.

Beeman tried to calm tempers saying, “We’re not going to let this meeting get out of hand.”

“Now it is time to put money into our town,” Amos said. “We need to prioritize and spend wisely and conservatively, but if we don’t put it in the budget it won’t happen.”

Summitville resident Bruce Stanley said if the money isn’t put into the project that the council should resign to the fact that soon there won’t be much of a town.

“You have to work to make things better in this town or you won’t have to worry about being council president,” Stanley said. “You have to spend money to make this place better or no one’s going to be here.”

At the end of a lengthy discussion — which included much shouting back and forth between board members and residents — the board decided to meet with the Madison County Council of Governments to get direction on where to get the funding so they could continue the project.

Doug Valmore, with Clark Dietz, said that if the project continued to roll they should be able to begin bidding in March. The next best course of action that he suggested was getting a financial adviser to help the council determine the best funding route. But he said that they needed to be paid to continue as their last payment was in February. They have been paid around $41,000 when they have billed about $131,000.

The council did vote to pay Clark Dietz the remaining $14,000 the town received from a grant.

Another topic during the meeting was what town Marshal Tony Hendrick called harassment of him and his officers. During the conversation tempers flared again. During their discussion Tony Hendrick walked up to the council’s table and he and Small were nearly nose to nose as Small ordered him to back up. Hendrick laid a piece of paper in front of Small saying, “I want that back!” It was unclear what the document was.

“You just shut up,” J.C. Hendrick said to Small. A few moments later Small retorted, “You just need to shut up for awhile.”

The dispute between council members and the audience continued when Small told someone to “butt out.” The resident shouted back, “Make me.”

Council member Curtis Blalock, who had appointed Hendrick to be board president during the last meeting, said he was ashamed of doing so and regretted it. The gathered audience cheered.

By 9:30 p.m. no vote had been made on issues discussed regarding the marshal and police department.

Contact Abbey Doyle, 640-4805, abbey.doyle@heraldbulletin.com.