INGALLS — Longstanding differences between two Ingalls officials reached a boiling point at a town council meeting Monday.
According to minutes from the meeting and officials in attendance, council member Tim Green and town manager Tim Millikan had a heated exchange after both men made complaints against each other.
Green made a verbal complaint against Millikan, saying Millikan was harassing him about his political and business signs.
Millikan then filed a seven-page complaint against Green in a report he presented to the council.
On the issue of signs, later in an interview, Millikan said he was doing his job, looking into town and state code violation issues after residents expressed concerns to him.
Green, a Republican, is on the ballot in Tuesday’s election. He and two Democratic candidates are competing for two at-large town council seats.
“Everything always gets turned around, like I’m the one coming after this individual, but that’s not true,” Millikan said. “If you don’t want codes enforced, don’t make the laws.”
As for his complaint against Green, the document was a long time in the making, Millikan said. It details several issues through many years.
The complaint was given to council president Chris Bradshaw, who can take up to 10 days to look into the complaint and determine if any of the issues warrant council action.
Millikan has discussed issues he’s had with Green at public meetings in the past. Some of those issues include differences about code enforcement, emails from Green and phone calls after hours, and Green telling Millikan to do personal work for him on company time.
“I’ve just had enough of his threats,” Millikan said. “People need to know what’s really going on.”
Green, who has read the complaint against him, said it has no merit.
“My argument is I’m filing a formal complaint against him for harassment, and then he goes and files this complaint against me,” Green said. “I think he’s going after me unfairly.”
Green said 99 percent of what’s in Millikan’s complaint is false, and that under Indiana law Millikan cannot file a complaint against him individually but must file it against the town council.
He said the contentious relationship with Millikan is very sad because Millikan was a good friend before disagreements divided them.
Green and Millikan were at odds earlier this year about Millikan’s enforcement of state code involving a business — Aaron’s Auction Headquarters — trying to set up shop in Ingalls.
The business has since left town, but it was one Green supported and wanted in the area.
Council member Georgia Parker, one of the two Democrats competing with Green for the at-large seats, said she has not seen the complaint filed by Millikan but has witnessed the issues between the two first hand.
“Green was fine with Tim (Millikan) until that Aaron’s Auction business,” Parker said. “I don’t like the fight — I know that.”
The town council gathered Monday for the special town council meeting after an executive session. Green made his verbal complaint about Millikan and, according to meeting minutes, said “It stops now!”
Then Millikan handed his prepared complaint of Green to Bradshaw, after which a “shouting match” between Green and Millikan ensued, according to meeting minutes and people in attendance. Bradshaw stepped in and asked for an adjournment of the meeting.
Council member Justin Gardner said he had not seen the complaint, so he couldn’t comment on it, but he said the differences between Green and Millikan do not prevent town work from getting done.
“We operate every day,” Gardner said. “If they do have any personal complaints, they tend to get in the way a bit, but I don’t think it’s holding the town back at all.”
He said things would be easier and work more smoothly if the two men didn’t butt heads so often.
