Pictured above: City of Elyria Mayor Frank Whitfield (left) and City of Elyria Safety Service Director Matt Lundy

It’s been nearly three week’s since Elyria’s mayor, Frank Whitfield, accused a city employee of “harassment and intimidation” at a local park. First reported by the Chronicle-Telegram last week, the story received little attention, and understandably so. With an historic storm sweeping the region, residents hardly had the time to concern themselves with yet another mayor-employee dispute in City Hall.

That was, of course, until we learned an eyebrow-raising detail this past Friday: Whitfield’s administration pushed Elyria Police Chief, Bill Pelko, to place a phone call to the City of Elyria employee named in the dispute, Carl Spanos.

The day after the August 8 incident between Whitfield and Spanos, an impromptu meeting was held. It was then that Safety Service Director and Whitfield’s right-hand-man, Matt Lundy, laid out the previous evening’s events for Pelko. Lundy wanted to know if legal action could be taken against Spanos. Pelko listened intently and responded: Nothing illegal took place and there was no need for police involvement.

Despite this, Lundy pushed the police chief to make contact with the employee. First, Lundy requested Pelko to attend a meeting later that same day, along with Human Resources Director Jean Yousefi, where Spanos would be questioned about his behavior the previous evening. Citing a scheduling conflict, Pelko declined

Later that day, Lundy again pressed the issue. After being told several times the matter did not require police involvement, Lundy contacted Pelko. This time, Lundy wanted the police chief to call Spanos and “explain the law.” While again stating no law had been broken, Pelko finally complied with the directive from the mayor’s office. He called Spanos and delivered Lundy’s message.

Director Lundy’s actions, which we can reasonably assume were at the direction of Mayor Whitfield, raises several obvious concerns.

Director Lundy pushed the police chief to make contact with Spanos, even after being told the matter didn’t rise to the level of criminality. Surely, Lundy understands the role of the police department is to protect and serve the residents of Elyria. Lundy himself has labeled the situation with Spanos a “personnel issue.” As a matter of policy and protocol, personnel issues are handled by the human resources department at city hall, not the police.

It seems a fair question then to ask, What was Lundy hoping to accomplish by having Chief Pelko attend the personnel meeting? What kind of message did Lundy hope to send by having the chief call Spanos?

Lundy’s actions raise serious concerns around misuse of power. Put yourself in the shoes of this employee: You just had a heated exchange with your boss, who also happens to be the mayor. Regardless of whether you believe your actions and words were righteous, you know you’re in trouble. The Safety Service Director and Director of Human Resources have just ordered you to a meeting to account for your behavior. You need to come up with a response, and you need to do it fast. Now, imagine your phone rings. It’s the chief of police, and he has a word for you from the Mayor’s Office.

I don’t know about you, but I’d certainly feel powerless.

After I published Friday’s article revealing Lundy’s actions, I received a flurry of messages. Some suggested that, despite the obvious questions raised by Whitfield’s claims and Lundy’s behavior, “no one really cares.” I disagree. Elyrians are strong. We are smart. When we smell something fishy, we ask questions. And when that smell is coming from the offices of our elected officials we hold them accountable.

Doing otherwise would be a mistake. We can’t live in a city where this mayor, or any future mayor, is given free rein to use his or her power to settle personnel, or personal, disputes. If a mayor feels comfortable leveraging our police department to lean on a city employee, what’s stopping him from doing the same with any other employee he deems “disagreeable”? What about residents expressing a political view he opposes? Where do we redraw the line?

We know there was no “harassment and intimidation” on Spanos’ part, despite Lundy’s letter claiming otherwise. We know there was no illegal behavior. Still, perhaps Mayor Whitfield had good reason to feel disrespected by Spanos’ behavior. And perhaps that behavior was so egregious it warrants the weeks-long internal investigation Lundy and Yousefi are now conducting (I’ll withhold my opinion on this piece of the story until that report is released). However, knowing the situation did not rise to a criminal matter, Whitfield’s staff had no good reason to involve the police.

Elyrians have a right to hold our elected officials accountable, especially when those officials push the limits of their power. We have concerns. We have questions. It now falls upon the shoulders of Whitfield and Lundy to provide the answers.

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