The light at the end of the tunnel was getting brighter, and the train that was driving the March 25 meeting of the Indianola Board of Aldermen appeared to have been heading to a smooth stop.
That was until Ward 1 Alderman Marvin Elder’s off-the-rails questioning of animal shelter director Elizabeth Elmore sent the coaches skipping completely off the tracks and into the train wreck that has defined this board since it took the oath of office in 2018.
It’s still not clear whether Elder’s agenda was driven by loco motives or legitimate gripes, but his approach to the situation – and the shouting match between himself and the mayor that followed – was completely unprofessional.
Elder might be facing some stiff consequences for his words, but I think a formal apology to Indianola Mayor Steve Rosenthal and the citizens of Indianola will go a long way in smoothing things over.
It all started at the tail end of what was otherwise a quiet evening at the City Hall Annex building.
Without any kind of warning, Elder went completely off the meeting’s agenda and began to address Elmore, who was seated in the audience.
Elmore was not set to deliver a departmental report for that meeting and was unprepared for the barrage of questions that came from the proud detective.
“Do the city or the humane society retrieve any funds from the animals that we transport? That’s a yes or no answer,” he demanded.
Elder then demanded to know if city employees were aiding in the transport of stray animals, and whether it was being done as volunteer work or on the clock.
He then wanted to know whether there was any family of any board members aiding in the transport of animals.
“Do we have any employees out there sheltering or housing any animals out there at the pound for private citizens, yes or no?” he asked, by this time engaged in the verbal altercation with the mayor, who was banging his gavel trying to restore order to the meeting.
Elder’s excuse for going off the meeting’s agenda was that Elmore had not been called to give a departmental report in some time - the last three meetings, according to him.
But that’s no excuse at all.
He could have added Elmore and his issues with the animal shelter to the agenda prior to the meeting.
But ever the sleuth, Elder opted for his own fiery brand of gotcha politics that has dominated his tenure in office.
Elmore is not the first victim of this type of public berating often thrust upon department heads by this board, and she will probably not be the last, but this incident escalated in a way that could have gotten ugly and violent very fast.
Why do we take this so seriously? Because it’s happened before.
In fact, Rosenthal himself got into a violent altercation eight years ago with a city alderman.
Elder was obviously referencing that incident when he told Rosenthal “You know what, you’re going to end up just like somebody else did you once before.”
He confirmed those sentiments while in executive session, where according to Rosenthal, Elder explicitly threatened to assault him.
Elder has yet to return The E-T’s calls for comment, so if you are reading this Mr. Elder, our hopes are that you will come to next Monday night’s meeting with a little bit of humility and that you will apologize to the mayor and the citizens for (one) handling the animal shelter questioning in such an unprofessional manner and (two) for threatening violence toward the mayor.
If you had legitimate concerns about the way things are being handled at the animal shelter, you would have brought them before the public in the proper manner and context.
There’s no way for anyone to conclude from your strategy that the motives were pure.
Nobody other than yourself knows the context of the questioning of Mrs. Elmore.
It’s even harder for folks to take these concerns seriously when they are thrown out there in such a haphazard way, and when you shouted over the mayor’s gavel and threatened violence, you lost all credibility.
