Grand Rapids Council Member & Mayor Face Off in Town Hall Parking Lot

The Grand Rapids Village Council met Monday, July 8, inside Town Hall. Council met at 6 p.m. to discuss a food truck policy, which appeared to be productive. Many residents showed up and packed the meeting room to discuss their support or concern. Council says they plan to allow food trucks but would like a standardized policy.

At 7 p.m. the regularly scheduled meeting was held. Many of the residents who showed up for the food truck meeting appeared to remain in attendance for the main meeting. Multiple concerns were communicated to the sheriff’s deputy who submitted his report. Much of the concern was regarding speeding on Front Street and Third Street.

Overall, the meeting appeared to remain mostly professional. Past meetings had been interrupted by tension between Councilmember Sylvain and Mayor Berry. Those attending meeting have noted tension has risen throughout the year and has led to litigation between Sylvain and the village in regards to property she owns next to town hall.

The dispute is regarding a white building that sits partially on Sylvain’s property and on village property near Town Hall. In past meetings it was suggested that the building would need to be torn down to allow more parking at Town Hall.

According to court records filed at the Wood County Court of Common Pleas, a pretrial order was issued on June 21, “There being no settlement at this time, this matter is referred to court mediation for a mediation proceeding and shall be mediated on or before 2/12/2025.” The court continued the case to final pretrial on April 15, 2025, and a possible bench trial on May 7 and May 8, 2025. NWO Community Media will follow updates as they are available.

After the meeting Councilmember Sylvain appeared to block Mayor Berry and Administrator Chad Beyer’s vehicles from leaving the parking area near town hall. It appeared the Mayor and Administrator backed their trucks up to the western edge of the town hall property, which lines up with Sylvain’s property. Sylvain appeared to park her truck between the Mayor and Administrator’s trucks blocking them from exiting Town Hall through Bass Street.

A sheriff’s deputy appeared to get involved as neighbors and those practicing for “The Sound of Music” at Town Hall watched the spectacle.

The incident appeared to come to a close when the Mayor maneuvered his truck around Sylvain’s, which eventually allowed the Administrator to pull his truck to freedom. Sylvain then appeared to leave the property followed by other involved parties.

Below is raw footage taken of the incident from across the street.

A personal note from Josh David: I would like to be clear that I wrote this story and recorded this video. I also want to be very clear that I do not personally back anyone on Village Council. All of those on council, including the mayor and employees of our village have been very kind to me and supportive of Towpath Radio. I have also been very supportive of them and the positive efforts they make for our community. ALL OF THEM are good people and have the ability to be good leaders. Though there is some laughter and rolling of the eyes, I really struggled to write this story and every story that shows the unprofessionalism on display during (and after) council meetings.

I’m not a news guy, I’m a music radio guy, but we started this service because no one was watching. Residents in the village were shocked when they heard about a new housing development, so we saw a real need to report on town hall. I did not think we were going to be reporting on such unprofessional behavior. It seems everyone is taking a side, which appears to be between Sylvain and Berry. To that I say, who cares? Again, both have been kind to me, but it’s on both of them to clean this up.

As elected leaders, you need to lead by example. We had kids at Town Hall watching Monday’s debacle. How is that okay? Someone has to be the bigger person here. Now we’re seeing tax payer money be put toward litigation. How is any of this good for the community?

It is my pledge to the community to continue to use the Towpath Radio as a fair platform to report on what is going on in the community, the good, and unfortunately the bad and ugly. During our push to raise money for the Towpath Radio FM tower I have made it a point to not allow NWO Community Media to accept donations or partnerships from the village or other non-profits. Why? Money does nasty things to groups and people. Towpath Radio, especially when we get to 98.7, is meant to be a station for the people of our listening area. It’s not a leg of the Village or another group. We are here to serve the community, which is the people. We are and will be independent from other groups. That might bankrupt us, but we’ll at least be broke with a good conscience.

I don’t get paid for this, nor does anyone else who is involved with Towpath Radio, it has even come at cost to a lot of my personal time, but get this, our community is first, not our egos. I beg our elected leaders take on this mantra.