VIENNA — A trustee quickly declined the possibility of one of the township’s employees being disciplined for allegedly falsifying their time card.

At the township meeting earlier this week, Chad Stidham, a resident, told attendees and officials that a public records request of the township’s security footage showed certain employees not coming to work.

Pegg questioned how Stidham knew that the employee didn’t come to work, adding that he could have worked the previous Saturday in the cemetery or gone home to review signs missing around the township. Pegg also said he “knew for a fact” that Stidham was not an investigator, alleging that he tried to claim that with an attorney.

“Didn’t you make that statement to an attorney that you were investigating our employees?” Pegg asked.

Stidham declined to comment on the allegations, instead asking again if the employee in question would be disciplined.

“Nothing — because you don’t know what occurred, or if you just made up stuff; ‘he went down here at lunch and picked up a sandwich’, he’s allowed to pick up a sandwich for lunch,” Pegg said. “Who are you to be following him around? If you created an accident, would you be responsible? It’s against the law to harass employees of the township, and that’s what you did.”

Stidham later explained that he never “investigated” anything and that he strictly looked into the issues with public records, wondering why no one could find township employees or get responses to messages.

“The community has to watch our tax dollars because the trustees have failed to do that in the past,” he said.

Stidham said the reaction from the trustees was as troubling as their lack of urgency and transparency toward the community in investigating discrepancies in time cards. He added it was “deeply troubling” that an elected official would make baseless allegations that a resident had committed a crime.

“The statement from the trustee is completely false and incredibly damaging to me, my reputation in this community, and my business,” he said. “This type of reckless behavior only further undermines public confidence and damages the integrity of our local government.”

Pegg, who wasn’t initially involved with the case surrounding Stidham, explained after the meeting that Stidham allegedly told someone he checked every official from the township and went by their houses.

Pegg added that the employee, Chad Savric, eventually quit after allegedly being followed by Stidham. Savric filed a police statement.

Savric’s departure and Road Superintendent Mike Penrose’s move to disability status led to trustees’ decision to interview several applicants for the deputy road superintendent and highway superintendent position during a workshop session before Monday’s meeting, tapping Ron Fraser and Jason DeVengencie to fill the roles.

“When things started in the beginning. I didn’t add two and two. I came walking out of Walmart to where he’s sitting in his truck. I’m thinking, ‘Okay, the guys coming to Walmart, right?’ And then I see him at another place and find out later that, you know, he’s following people,” Pegg said. “Well, is he following me? I don’t know. But I sure as hell know that he harassed our employee. And I’m not going to put up with that.”

Stidham said he hadn’t shopped at Walmart recently and offered to provide bank statements.

A copy of the police report obtained Wednesday showed Savric telling police that Stidham followed him on March 5 to work, then the bank and later sped off.

Savric mentioned that on March 6, a blue Subaru with a female driver had taken pictures of him while he was working on Bonnie Brae Road.

Police Chief Brian Darbey met with Stidham at the Vienna Police Department April 6, where Stidham told Darbey and another officer that he wasn’t following Savric, and that he doesn’t drive a Subaru.

The case was closed per Savric’s request on April 7, after he said nothing else had happened since his initial report was filed. Fiscal Officer Jason Miner said officials are still looking into the timecards.

In terms of whether Savric did anything wrong, Pegg maintained the employee’s innocence.

“No; Chad was one of the hardest working people I know,” he said.