Just one week ago, on Friday the 7th, I asked if the Township Supervisor in West Bloomfield could 'stop the nonsense'. I got my answer on Monday night when I made the mistake of tuning into the Township Board meeting.
I stopped on the government access channel at 7:00 PM to see if the meeting had started after their scheduled 6:45 Executive Session. I discovered that they were discussing Item #12 regarding the minutes of closed sessions. I blogged about this particular issue back on December 11. Closed sessions are CLOSED. The fact that they occurred show up in the regular minutes of the board meeting showing the vote to enter and the items discussed and the documentation from those sessions are sealed in an envelope by the Township Clerk after the meeting.
For the twenty plus years I was on the Board, that is how it was done. Now, this Township Supervisor has accused past boards of throwing out the laws and doing things wrong. In addition, she insulted the township attorneys and told them they were wrong in their opinion that we had always been in compliance because her own legal experts, whom she conveniently refused to identify, told her she was right and the rest of the world is wrong. She complained about a website that is critical of her, but refused to identify it even when asked by both the attorney and Trustee Brown.
Township Clerk Shaughnessy read the State law out loud and the Supervisor reinterpreted it to mean something completely different. What is her problem?
The meeting went downhill from there, even though it already seemed to be in the gutter. The Supervisor managed to misstate the decision of the Circuit Court on the lawsuit she filed against four of the Board members. On the issues she lost, she is appealing to the Court of Appeals and stated that she would have a quick decision in her favor. She said that there had been a ruling on the tax issue, even though the Judge has not made a decision. I sat here watching this take place and questioning the mental process of the person who is supposed to be running several of our Township departments.
Oh, well, then there is that problem she identified about department heads 'crying in her office'. Really? Crying? (The fact that all but two department heads are men, makes the mental picture rather interesting.) I'd fire their a--es. As a taxpayer, I want you doing your job, not crying about it. If you can't perform in what I know is a very stressful situation over there, then you need to go, or come forward with the issues.
All the public sees is what happens at the Board table and some folks think that the majority is the problem because they Supervisor is telling them so. And they don't know what the law says any more than she does. She and they believe she has unlimited authority. (She does not.)
In fact, MCL 42.9 states: No creation of any additional administrative office or combination thereof shall abolish the offices of township clerk or township treasurer nor diminish any of the duties or responsibilities of those offices which are prescribed by state law.
Do you see anything in the language that protects the Township Supervisor? NO. And the Board can, by majority vote, remove her duties and hire a Township Superintendent. MCL 42.10 states, in part: The township board in each charter township shall have power to appoint a township superintendent and may delegate to him any or all of the following functions and duties which functions and duties, unless so delegated, shall be exercised by the supervisor:...
Criticizing the attorney in public, arguing with Board members, misstatements of Court decisions, monopolizing 'Public Comment' to give speeches on ones own merits, implying that prior boards did not follow the law... Need I go on?
If you are a resident and are reading this, please send it to your friends. I have received emails and phone calls this week about this, but the same group of people talking about it is not enough. We need lots of voices to 'Stop the Nonsense'.
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