Miller Historical Society founder: I kicked activist off board

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Gary is still committed to allowing restoration work to go forward on the historic Miller Town Hall, but local activist Jim Nowacki’s role in the project is up in the air.

Last week, the city authorized the Miller Historical Society to make various repairs, including replacing broken windows, to the building, but according to MHS President Cullen Ben Daniel, Nowacki and fellow board member Robert Leonard were tossed off the three-member board in November and thus have nothing to do with the project.

“Since I founded the organization, I dismissed them — told them verbally and in writing — and a vote was taken by the membership,” Ben Daniel said. “We were tired of the constant belligerency, rude behavior, and lack of respect, but Jim continues to go before various boards and branches of government, saying he’s representing us.”

Nowacki said that technically he and Leonard are still part of the board and there was “clearly no legal dissolution.”

“(Leonard and I) continue to meet as a majority of the board,” Nowacki said. “It was part of the politics of the old regime, but we have no animosity. We expect the stuff he’s doing is extralegal, but he can do what he wants.”

Mary Cossey, the city’s director of constituent services, said that the city supports the renovation, but officials need to determine whether the project needs permits and who really is representing the Miller Historical Society.

Cossey said the city dropped public nuisance charges against Nowacki because his actions — using a sledgehammer to break up concrete slabs at the town hall and putting down sod — were a good faith effort to improve the building.

“It was a separate issue from allowing work on the building to resume,” she said.

Ben Daniel said he’s worried Nowacki will take the city’s approval as permission to do what he wants to the town hall, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. “There are strict guidelines what you can do to historic buildings, and we don’t want Jim to go in make situation worse by knocking down walls,” Ben Daniel said.

Ben Daniel said he tried to expand the group’s board several times, but Nowacki and Leonard thwarted most efforts. Since the group’s bylaws don’t contain guidelines for appointing, electing or dismissing board members, Ben Daniel sought legal advice.

“Since I appointed them, I could dismiss them,” Ben Daniel said.

According to the Indiana Secretary of State’s office, Miller Historical Society started out as a not-for-profit domestic corporation on July 14, 2010, with Ben Daniel listed as its registered agent, president and incorporator. Leonard and Nowacki also are listed as incorporators. On Oct. 29, 2011, Ben Daniel established the Miller Beach Historical Society Inc. as a not-for-profit domestic corporation, and on Nov. 15, 2011, Leonard established the Miller Historical Society Museum, Inc.

Ben Daniel also registered the name “Miller Historical Society” as a trademark with the state. In December, he served Nowacki with a cease and desist notice for continuing to use the phrase on a sign outside a property at 500 Lake St. He also said he will file a police report against Nowacki and Leonard since they have MHS items in their possession, including a check, and they have not returned the key to the MHS’s post office box.

“It’s an unfortunate situation,” Ben Daniel said. “Jim knows he’s wrong, or he wouldn’t have set up the shell corporation — the Miller Historical Society Museum.”