Village in 'Grey Area' Without Administrator

Mount Pleasant might be without a president and short a trustee, according to a legal opinion from Village Attorney Tim Pruitt.

During a special meeting on Dec. 18, the Village Board approved assigning certain Administrator duties to Village President James Majdoch. Trustee Harry Manning was asked to be the second-in-command of sorts if Majdoch was unavailable.

But, according to Pruitt, doing this invokes the doctrine of incompatibility, which means one person cannot hold two public offices. 

Village Clerk/Treasurer Veronica Rudychev explained the doctrine in an email to trustees after she spoke to Pruitt.

"By virtue of being appointed to Interim Administrator that person automatically vacates the position of Village President or Village Trustee (in the case of Harry Manning taking the second in command)," she wrote.

The village is operating in a grey area, though, Rudychev continued, because Majdoch was assigned duties but not actually appointed to the position.

"At this point any Board action in which Jim participates or anything that Jim Majdoch does in the office of Village President can be legally challenged," she stated in the email.

Trustee Gary Feest responded immediately asking for a meeting to address the issue.

"I would advocate for a meeting to correct this. And I would hope as soon as feasible," he wrote in an email.

In an interview with Patch, Feest said he believes trustees will take up the matter at the regularly scheduled Jan. 14 board meeting, but he is unsure about the ramifications if nothing is done before then.

"If nothing happens between now and the 14th that requires Jim to act as an administrator, I don't know how much trouble the village is really in," he stated. "Maybe we're okay and maybe a meeting could be called next week. We'll just have to wait and see."

When we reached Majdoch Monday morning, he said he was not going to call a special meeting to address the issue because he didn't anticipate any action this week that would require him to act as administrator.

"No, I think we're okay until Monday," he said. "We'll take it up at our regular board meeting."

The board meets at 7 p.m. Jan. 14 at Village Hall, 8811 Campus Drive. Call (262) 664-7800.