Colfax Village Board: hearsay not good enough

By LeAnn R. Ralph

COLFAX  —  If it’s a matter of “he said, she said, he said, she said,” then how do you really know who said what?

The answer is — you don’t.

To avoid complaints coming by hearsay, the Village of Colfax is not going to operate on the basis of second-hand or third-hand complaints, said Gary Stene, village president, during the “communications from the village president” portion of the August 14 Colfax Village Board meeting.

The village has been hearing about complaints residents have been making in regard to the police department, but the people who have the concerns have not been contacting the village, and the complaints have been coming through hearsay, Stene said.

“I’m not interested in hearsay. I want facts,” he said.

The concerns expressed to the village will be taken up by the public safety committee, Stene said.

Village Trustees Keith Burcham, Casey Rihn and Annie Schieber make up the public safety committee.

A meeting of the public safety committee was scheduled for Monday, August 21, and one of the agenda items was to “review/discuss complaints and concerns.”

“I would encourage any person with a complaint to come to the village hall,” Stene said during the August 14 village board meeting.

If the matter is important enough to complain about — it is important enough to put the complaint in writing, he said.

Once the complaint is put into writing, the village will “get an answer” for the resident, Stene said.