by Logan Andrew | FreeWire — Your News, Your Voice
A week that started routine and ended with officers in the chamber
What began as an ordinary week of council business on Tuesday, Sept. 30, spiraled into canceled meetings, a car-following incident, a police-monitored emergency session to pass critical legislation, a social-media firestorm about alleged executive-session leaks, and — as of Monday, Oct. 6 — the resignation of Council Clerk Kelli Patterson-Tussey after less than a month on the job.
Tuesday, Sept. 30 — Regular meeting
Council convened at 7 p.m. with President Kurt Fankhauser presiding. All members except Chris Mauritz and James Mee were present. Routine minutes were accepted and committee chairs filed their reports. Police Chief Dorsey introduced the department’s new K-9, “Vader,” (Here's hoping he doesn't walk the paw-th to the dark side) and warned that dispatcher shortages could force patrol officers off the street if staffing is not addressed. Under new business, council set a special meeting for Oct. 2 to handle six emergency items, including legislation tied to a roughly $185,000 grant.
Council also went into executive session on Tuesday, but city officials stressed the closed-door discussions weren’t about handing out tax breaks under the table. Instead, they centered on using a Community Reinvestment Area (CRA) incentive to encourage businesses to bring jobs to Bucyrus. The planned IB-Tech expansion falls under that umbrella. Members say the goal was to handle the incentive properly so the company’s announcement could be made on its own timeline while still securing local benefits for the community.
According to multiple sources, Council President Kurt Fankhauser attempted to prevent the CRA item from even appearing on Thursday night’s agenda, effectively trying to stop the discussion before it reached the floor. That maneuver, combined with the canceled meeting and the chaotic “make-up” session on Friday, added to frustration inside City Hall and among the public. Fankhauser has also been excluded from some recent executive sessions; members say the exclusion reflects worries that sensitive material discussed behind closed doors will be disclosed publicly.
Thursday, Oct. 2 — Canceled special/committee meetings and a car-following, alleged stalking incident
Committee meetings and the special session scheduled for Thursday evening were canceled for lack of a quorum. That same evening, Law Director Brandon Gobrecht posted on Facebook that Council President Fankhauser followed him and Councilwoman Clarissa Slater-Scheffler from State Route 4 into downtown, making an illegal U-turn at the Sunoco, and trailed them to City Hall while holding an unidentified object. Police were called.
A claim posted later on the Citizens for a More Transparent Bucyrus page ran by Fankhauser said officers performed a “field sobriety test” on Gobrecht when patrol cars were moved to block his recording. Gobrecht’s post (and multiple eyewitness accounts) say the opposite: Clarissa Slater-Scheffler’s young daughter needed a diaper change, and Gobrecht asked officers to position their cruisers so Fankhauser could not record a naked child. Gobrecht says body-camera footage will corroborate the diaper-change explanation; Fankhauser’s post framed the patrol movement as an alleged sobriety check. The competing accounts — and the fact police were called — pushed the conflict into the open and ratcheted up tensions heading into Friday.
Friday, Oct. 3 — Emergency session devolves into shouting match; police called upstairs
Because the city risked missing deadlines tied to the grant and other time-sensitive measures, council reconvened Friday. What should have been an expedited set of votes on five pieces of legislation instead exploded into a procedural and personal fight.
After many small squabbles between council members and himself, Fankhauser at one point attempted to declare the night’s ordinances “unfavorable” — not on procedural grounds, but because he personally opposed the measures. Kevin Myers asked for the floor to move that council proceed favorably on the ordinances; Fankhauser granted it and then almost immediately began shouting over Myers, issuing multiple warnings in rapid succession. Law Director Brandon Gobrecht intervened and shouted back at Fankhauser, prompting a recess and the call for police assistance from downstairs.
Because the recess had been called, council was unable to immediately act on a motion to remove Fankhauser from the chair — a point Fankhauser has repeatedly asserted incorrectly, saying only he can remove others (council rules permit members to have another presiding officer installed by vote in the event the president refuses to do his job). Officers reviewed footage in the chamber and concluded Fankhauser had not given Gobrecht the required warnings to justify ejecting him. The session continued with officers stationed in the council chamber to keep the peace, and the council ultimately moved forward on the legislation amid an atmosphere described by attendees as tense and chaotic.
Executive sessions and the IB-Tech backstory
Behind the public fights are closed-door deliberations over an IB-Tech expansion several sources say would create a substantial number of jobs. Multiple council members and city officials told sources that Fankhauser has been excluded from recent executive sessions because he has a history of publicly disclosing things discussed behind closed doors before they are ready to be released.
Greg White — a member of the city Planning Commission (and therefore a city official) — left Councilwoman Vicki Dishon, his neighbor, a voicemail referencing statements allegedly made about her and White during a recent executive session. Later, at the Crazy Fox Saloon, White “heavily alluded” to there being some sort of listening or recording device in the executive-session room, according to people familiar with their conversation. Those allegations have escalated suspicion and suspicion-based rhetoric among several officials and residents.
On Sunday, posts from the Citizens for a More Transparent Bucyrus account accused Clarissa Slater and Brandon Gobrecht of trying to secure a CRA tax abatement after construction had begun and warned that “there may or may not be tape recordings proving all of this.” The combination of (1) alleged executive-session leaks, (2) off-site conversations implying a listening device, and (3) public posts hinting at tape recordings has pushed the dispute from the closed room into public paranoia and accusations.
Sunday, Oct. 5 — Social media blows up
By Sunday the dispute was an all-out social-media spectacle:
- Citizens for a More Transparent Bucyrus (Council President Fankhauser's implausible deniability attempt) teased the IB-Tech expansion — “you heard it here first” — and posted accusations that Clarissa and Brandon were attempting “tax fraud” by seeking an improper CRA abatement. The account later added posts alleging the Friday meeting was a “farce” and claiming there “may or may not be tape recordings” that would prove the accusations.
- Clarissa Slater’s council page responded to questions by noting Fankhauser was not in the executive session and declined to comment further on an ongoing investigation.
- Brandon Gobrecht’s Law Director page contained posts and replies from residents who described the conduct as “stalking,” “harassment,” and “unhinged.” Several commenters urged legal action and expressed fear for the safety of council members and their families.
Comments threads quickly dissolved into insults, conspiracy theories about bugs and hidden cameras, joking references to diapers and drones, and bitter recriminations about who knew what and when. The online circus accentuated the real world consequences: the public airing of accusations and the escalation of interpersonal hostilities among local officials.
Monday, Oct. 6 — Council clerk resigns amid the fallout
On Monday morning Council Clerk Kelli Patterson-Tussey submitted her resignation after less than a month on the job. In her October 6 resignation letter to Council President Fankhauser she wrote: “With great sadness, I am ethically and morally unable to continue as the Council Clerk of the City of Bucyrus. I really wanted to help and I am very sad to resign.”
Council President Fankhauser told Crawford County Now that he respected her decision and recommended suspending nonessential legislation until the council focuses on the 2026 budget; he also suggested that the incoming council appoint a new clerk rather than hiring a replacement for the remainder of the current term. The clerk’s abrupt departure is another sign of how tensions inside City Hall are affecting basic operations.
Why this week matters
This week’s council drama isn’t just another round of shouting matches. The City of Bucyrus is in the middle of several high-stakes decisions, including tax abatements tied to IB-Tech’s expansion — a project that could bring a significant number of jobs to the area. The way those incentives are handled, and the perception of transparency around them, will shape how residents and outside businesses view City Hall for years to come.
The breakdown in procedure during Thursday’s canceled meeting and Friday’s chaotic “do-over” also underscores a deeper problem. With members arguing over quorums, shouting over one another, and calling the police in the middle of a meeting, the council’s ability to govern is being called into question. Even necessary legislation — such as the $185,000 grant that was nearly lost — becomes a casualty of the dysfunction.
Meanwhile, leaks from executive sessions about IB-Tech and accusations of “moles” or secret recordings point to an erosion of trust among officials. Whether the information was obtained legally or not, the public perception is that sensitive discussions can no longer stay in the room. That makes it harder for council to negotiate economic development deals or reassure businesses that their plans will be kept confidential until announced.
And as if the drama weren’t enough, Council Clerk Kelli Patterson-Tussey resigned on Monday after less than a month on the job. Her departure is both a symptom and a warning sign of how toxic the environment has become. Without a steady clerk and with council members at each other’s throats, even routine governance — let alone major initiatives — will be increasingly difficult to manage.
Editor’s Note (from the author)
I sat down to write this council recap three or four different times and each time I didn’t know where to begin. More turmoil kept unfolding while I wrote — the ending kept moving. When you put all of it together, the truth is stranger than fiction. The night police were involved I told somebody: if you tried to sell this as a book, a publisher would make you cut parts for being too unrealistic. That’s where we are as a community.
I am not alone in thinking: enough is enough. Someone needs to put an end to this, because if no one does, the only way I can foresee this ending is in violence. We see tragedies and later hear people say, “the writing was on the wall.” Well, the writing is on the wall here, and people who could have acted and chose inaction will be as culpable as those who cause the harm. I say that bluntly because I do not want to look back and hear the usual explanations.
— L.A., Editor-in-Chief
