When Oversight Becomes Grandstanding
By April Rodgers
Tuesday night’s Bucyrus City Council meeting wasn’t just about city business — it was about Council President Kurt Fankhauser turning a routine report into a public interrogation of Law Director Brandon Gobrecht. What should have been a straightforward legal explanation became yet another example of Fankhauser’s habit of dragging out meetings, questioning expertise, and making a show of his own skepticism.
Let’s be clear: oversight is important. Asking questions and ensuring the law is followed should be part of every council member’s job. What Fankhauser does isn’t about clarity — it’s about control.
When Councilman Myers asked Gobrecht about the financial benefits of his federal certification, Gobrecht acknowledged that while it was difficult to put an exact number on the savings, it could be “potentially thousands.” A reasonable answer, considering legal cases can vary widely in cost. When Fankhauser took his turn, the conversation took a different tone. He demanded specifics on how many city cases had gone to federal court last year. “More than one?” he asked. Gobrecht, rather than guessing, simply said, “I don’t know the number.” Fankhauser’s response? A smug, dismissive “Hmm… okay.”
Then came the grilling over voting requirements with six council members instead of seven. Gobrecht explained his legal reasoning, but that wasn’t enough for Fankhauser. “Have you found any case law on that? Or an Attorney General opinion? Or where are you coming up with this from?” It was clear what was happening. This wasn’t about getting an answer — it was about undermining Gobrecht’s authority in the room. Let’s not forget — the city pays Gobrecht well to research, understand, and apply the law. That’s his job. Expecting him to have case law citations memorized on the spot is both unrealistic and unnecessary. If Fankhauser truly wanted clarification, he could have asked in a professional manner before the meeting instead of turning it into a public spectacle. Gobrecht later cited exactly where the law supported his stance, but by then, Fankhauser had already made his point: that he’d rather stall progress than trust the city’s federally certified law director.
I asked Gobrecht how he felt about Fankhauser’s line of questioning. His response was measured: “Questions are good because we want to make sure things are correct the first time. I moonlight as a substitute teacher, so I enjoy teaching people what I know. I just don’t have the time as Law Director, currently, to brief out every single issue though. There is a limit to how thorough I can be, and as an attorney, it’s a tough balance because there aren’t really half explanations within the law due to there being so many exceptions. “There is enough law out there to write a ten or twenty-page brief on what happens when a sitting council member resigns during their term, but the only part that matters is pertaining to how an unchartered municipality organized under the federal plan is affected by a resignation. At the end of the day, the court system is rooted in different interpretations of the same law, but I think this particular issue is safely settled for the foreseeable future. However, and I cannot stress this enough, everything in the law is open to one interpretation or another.”
That last part is key — law is always open to interpretation, which is exactly why cities hire professionals like Gobrecht to provide informed legal guidance. Instead of trusting the city’s own expert, Fankhauser chose to waste time playing legal scholar, despite not being one. At the end of the day, this wasn’t about seeking legal clarity. It was about a council president who seems more interested in proving a point than leading effectively. Bucyrus deserves better than these unnecessary power struggles.
About the Author, April Rodgers FreeWire Magazine/Content Coordinator
April Rodgers is a 1992 graduate of Bucyrus High School. She is the mother of four sons -Christian, Chase, Cameran, and Cory-and has been married to her high school crush, Art, for 11 years. She is also a proud pet mom to two fur babies: Wollee Bear, a Yorkshire Terrier, and Maverick, a rescued stray cat. She is the daughter of Harold Rodgers and Judy and Robert Dewalt. In her spare time, April enjoys shopping, traveling, and spending time with her family. A passionate reader, she loves The Shopaholic Series by Sophie Kinsella and proudly calls herself a shopaholic-just ask her Amazon driver! She also enjoys watching movies, with The American President being her all-time favorite. In the fall, you’ll find April on the sidelines cheering for the BHS Marching Band or in front of the TV watching Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills dominate the NFL. Her favorite quote comes from Josh himself: ‘Be good, do good, God bless, and go Bills!’
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The city will be in much better shape when this 🤡 is gone. Sad thing is we might have another one entering in a Council-at-Large position. Let’s hope the voting public are smarter than that.
Indeed we do deserve better from leadership. Thanks for this apt coverage and synopsis.