Entire dive team resigns

SHELBY COUNTY

SHELBYVILLE — One by one, every member of the Shelby County Dive Team resigned at a raucous county board meeting Tuesday evening after failing to secure the resignation of board member Sonny Ross, R-Windsor, from the committee that now oversees the team.

"Over the past couple of weeks, I have seen how individuals on this board no longer have the county's best interests at heart," said dive team commander Austin Pritchard, tendering his resignation. "They have manufactured this crisis with the dive team to further their narrative and their agenda."

"The team has over 130 years of combined experience and that is not something that can be replaced overnight," he continued. "I cannot and will not ask this team to endure this toxic environment."

The tense showdown came less than a week after Ross issued a "stand down" order of questionable validity to Pritchard to "cease any and all operations until further notice" over concerns that the team did not have proper insurance coverage under county policies.

Team members have accused Ross and other members of the Shelby County Board of using the insurance issue as a cover to sink the dive crew in retaliation over a previous dispute involving a mutual aid request from the Illinois State Police.

It only took days for that order to make a splash with potentially deadly consequences as, over the weekend, the Moultrie County Dive Team had to step in on a Kaskaskia River rescue call which normally would have been handled by the Shelby team.

Luckily, the person in question was successfully rescued by a Shelby County sheriff's deputy who decided to intervene given the lengthier response time.

The four-hour meeting attracted a standing-room only crowd inside the Shelby County Courthouse, a sight that has become common in recent weeks amid separate but interrelated fights that also include the status of the county's long-held farmland about four and a half miles northwest of Shelbyville.

Still, the long evening started with hopes that a compromise could be reached.

Following a one-and-a-half hour closed session, board members voted on a resolution to formally "establish" the dive team under the county's umbrella, apparently resolving the insurance issue.

Under the plan, which passed unanimously, the dive team's present command structure and standard operating procedures, excluding the charging of fees for services, would remain in place for 60 days while the county and the team worked to forge a more permanent policy.

The resolution places the dive team under the oversight of the board's seven-member public safety committee. Ross is a member of the committee.

While maintaining that the whole brouhaha was a "manufactured crisis," many in the room signaled that the measure was "a positive development."

However, the mood quickly shifted when Pritchard rose to speak during public comment period. He made one request, that Ross resign from the public safety committee.

Ross indicated that he would not, to the dismay of dive team members and most gathered in the room.

Board Chairman Robert "Bobby" Orman, R-Windsor, reminded everyone that the board could take no action during public comment. In any case, any changes to committees would "take time and deliberation," he said.

Responding, Pritchard said he did not "know how we can move forward with the the attitude and the temperament of Mr. Ross."

Next, in a dramatic and seemingly pre-planned sequence, dive team members one-by-one read their resignation letters to the board as Pritchard, their leader, stood next to them in support.

Some letters were lengthy, some were brief, but everyone concluded by removing their dive team shirts and throwing them in the center of the table where board members, including Ross, were sitting.

"The accusations and half-truths plastered on social media have cut deep and broken the trust between our team and this board," said dive team member Scott Jefson, adding that "the toxic environment created by this manufactured crisis" left him no choice but to resign.

"This has been my family for the past seven years. And now, a single individual has destroyed this family," added dive team member Craig Martin, referring to Ross.

Once all his team members resigned, Pritchard — with all the now-former dive team members standing behind him in support — tendered his own. Then, shortly before 10 p.m., they all walked out of the meeting together.

Ross, who was heckled all night by the audience, would exit the meeting soon after and not return. The meeting went on for another hour, with board members fielding comments from the angry crowd.

Ross, speaking with Herald & Review last week, said he had no choice but to indefinitely shut down the dive team. His reasoning hinged on the status of the dive team's founding documents, which are missing, or were destroyed, or never even existed, depending on which county board member one asks.

No matter the reason why, if the dive team's founding documents can't be located, then the county can't prove the group was legally formed, which makes insurance coverage void, Ross argues.

But many questioned Ross' ability to unilaterally shut down the team. Orman, the county board chair, asked about it after Tuesday's meeting, said "that, I can't answer."

Ross remains on the committee, but whether he will be in the long run is still an open question. Though most board members remained silent, Martha Firnhaber, R-Shelbyville, and Matthew Kessler, R-Pana, spoke up in support of Ross.

"Not everything was done perfectly," Kessler said. "But Sonny was trying to do the right thing. Maybe it came off really, really bad and the relationship did get sour. We all understand that. But he was trying to do the right thing."

Kessler, responding to the calls for Ross' resignation, said that "we can't have a mob mentality that screams for somebody to resign, have an ultimatum and have an entire group of people say 'if you don't resign, I am quitting.'"

Board member Tad Mayhall, R-Shelbyville, however, voiced support for the dive team.

"Do not mistake what these folks are saying and what this team just did. Do not mistake it for people just wanting to quit," Kessler said. "They don't want to quit. They did not come here to quit. They came here to continue to do their job."

"They still have an opinion and still feel that they can't work with certain members," he continued. "That needs to be addressed. It's our job as leaders to make sure that this happens one way or the other."

What happens next is unclear as the dive team was technically reinstated. But there are no members, who have vowed not to return with Ross overseeing them.

Contact Brenden moore at brenden.moore@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter at @ brendenmoore13.