During a special council meeting held on April 29, 2002, friend of Mayor Graves and non-resident Shelly Cosgrove was appointed to the newly created position of Village Fiscal Officer, an appointed position by the Mayor, at an annual salary of $10,020.00 to replace the elected position of Clerk/Treasurer. This position was never posted nor did Mayor Graves seek other applications. When asked what Ms. Cosgrove?’s qualifications for the position were, Mayor Graves responded that ?“she has knowledge?” and ?“she has relatives who she can go to with questions?”.
Before council voted on creating the position of Fiscal Officer, council briefly opened the floor to discussion from residents, but this open discussion ended quickly after councilperson Robert Graves stated ?“just close it, this is all crap?”.