Shelby County – Dive Team Facts Still Matter – Trust But Verify! – Updated!

Shelby Co. (ECWd) –

So there is no confusion from anyone reading this, we are not lawyers, judges, or constitutional experts.  However, in the words of a local self-proclaimed “expert”:

“I know a credible source, one that is presenting information in an honest, sincere, and credible way, and one that is engaging in less than credible tactics with their research and presentation”

Selective local outrage showed up once again on a cowardly anonymous local social media site that is clearly engaging in less-than-credible tactics with what appears to be zero research in their presentation.

The subject matter was the Shelby County Dive team and the Public Safety Committee not voting on an Intergovernmental Agreement with the City of Shelbyville

The Coward’s Points:

“Last night the Public Safety Committee voted to table the discussion and vote on the “intergovernmental agreement” that would allow the dive team to cover Shelby County under Shelbyville city sponsorship.”

“The city’s attorney, Jack Kiley, drafted the agreement, which was then passed by the council. Shelbyville has one lawyer who did all the heavy lifting of drafting the agreement, reviewing it with his client (the city), and seeing it across the finish line with the city council.”

“The city and their attorney recognized the urgency and responded accordingly. The county, on the other hand, had at least three weeks to work on reviewing the agreement with three different options for legal counsel, and still did not manage to do so.”

“Shelby County has been without a dive team for nearly three months, and this board demonstrated no urgency with a clear solution and path forward in front of them.”

“A trained dive team is ready to go back to work, they have the sponsorship and all they need from the city of Shelbyville. (emphasis added)

Facts missing from the anonymous presentation:

• Yes, the committee tabled the discussion and vote on the IGA.  Had this propagandist actually researched as to why, he or she would have learned that there was no Intergovernmental Agreement given to them to even read, let alone vote on.  We believe any person being asked to discuss and vote on something they have never laid eyes on would also vote to table it.  Now keeping in mind that we are not lawyers, judges, or constitutional experts, do not take our word for anything.  Simply read the response from the city who acknowledged they had not provided the IGA to the County as of October 11, 2023.  As indicated in the response, County Board member Williams received a copy from Mark Shanks and we have confirmed that this took place on October 6, 2023, after the matter was tabled by the Public Safety Committee.
• Oh, do tell!  According to the city of Shelbyville, the IGA was drafted by Mr. Terry Trueblood, who is not the city attorney.  Interestingly enough, the actual IGA document they provided in response to my FOIA indicates it was Authored by Mark Shanks.  Considering we are not experts in any type of research we can’t confirm who actually authored the document that became the PDF file being circulated.  All that aside, if the City Attorney authored it why would the city clerk indicate someone else did and why would the PDF indicate yet another person’s name as the author?  Considering a FOIA response from public officials is considered to be true and accurate, it appears the city attorney did not draft the IGA as being claimed.

UPDATE

• Thank you Mark Shanks for confirming yet another part of the propagandist’s comments as being false.  According to Mark Shanks, the City of Shelbyville DID NOT approve any IGA as was claimed by the anonymous social media site.

• At least three weeks to review the agreement?  According to the City, they not only never provided it to the County, the creation date in the IGA indicates it was created on October 6, 2023, and then modified on October 9, 2023. We are unsure how anyone could review a document for at least three weeks when they were never provided anything to actually review.
• Yes, Shelby County has been without a dive team for nearly three months. In fact, Shelby County was without a dive team for upwards of 20 years before the dive team existed.  To claim the board has demonstrated no urgency with a clear path forward regarding the dive team is nothing short of laughable.  The county took steps to adopt the resolution that properly established the dive team to resolve the problem and even removed certain language they were not happy with. Rather than move forward on that fix the dive commander agreed would work before it was adopted,  the team quit. The fact there is no active Dive Team in Shelby County is not the county board’s fault but rather those who quit.
• If the dive team has all they need from the City of Shelbyville, why post all this propaganda?

Closing with a quote from a self-proclaimed Shelby County expert appears appropriate:

“Knowledge, critical thinking, and research methodologies are personally liberating, and so if you are trying to fool or strong arm someone with bullshit, it is much more difficult when that person can dismantle arguments and spot propagandists and disingenuous actors”