I’ve covered very few villages/towns/cities that compare to the Village of Smithfield when it comes to drama and controversy.  Adding to the controversy is the fact every city official has been invited to come on the show but as of yet….not one has taken advantage of the opportunity….and I don’t blame them.  Afterall…how would you explain:

 Money being collected by an e-squad levy even though the village hasn’t had an e-squad for over 10 years.  Where is that money?

The Jefferson County Commissioners suing the village for $155,000 dollars over water and sewage issues 

The IRS coming in and taking $58,000 in back taxes….leaving the village with $50.00 in 3 accounts

Then mayor and current councilwoman Patricia Freeland, Sara Morris, Debbie Cihon and Kathy Staten all named by the state auditor for missing or misappropriation of funds (Staten stole for gambling purposes and has since repaid the money---the others all say they were only doing what Freeland told them to do with the money) 

Police Chief Bob Mitchkowski, then Mayor Freeland and councilmembers Kovatch…Hara…McCoy…Sobalesky…Plugh and Slaughter not paying Mark Guglielmo of M.A.G. Performance over $1,000 for repairs to a Smithfield Police crusier…which was brought to M.A.G. by a Smithfield policeman to be fixed.  Freeland and the chief say Guglielmo wasn’t authorized to work on it because he didn’t have a P.O. order….yet Guglielmo said on this show he was told by the officer to fix it…the same officer who even went to pick up the parts for the cruiser.  I made phone calls to other mechanics who worked on Smithfields cruisers….they told me they never had a P.O. order

Lunches with Love…a non-profit operating out of a building owned by Freeland the the chief being kicked out of the building without prior notice.  This non-profit feeds 60 shut-ins in the area…yet were locked out without notice. 

A doctor living in Michigan who donated $5,000 to Lunches with Love for air conditioning and a wheelchair accessible ramp to be placed in their building…which is owned by Freeland and the police chief.  To this day….there is no air conditioning…no wheelchair ramp…and nobody knows where the money went.  The check was made out to Patricia Freeland.

The citizens of Smithfield voting Freeland out as mayor and her council turning around and nominating her to a vacant council seat 

And now…a council member's sister being hired as fiscal officer of a town in total fiscal disarray.  So once again…I have never seen a town in all the years of covering the Ohio Valley with so many unanswered questions and controversy as Smithfield.  All I can do is make the problems known and hope the residents get more involved…..and that’s what I’ve been doing.  I’ve also kept badgering elected village officials to come on this show and explain themselves….yet they refuse.  That should tell you everything you need to know in regards to a situation that is the epitomy of small town politics gone bad.