The following discussion among the trustees is relevant to remarks at the end of Public Comment.
During Mark Hall's report, he mentioned that in the executive session during the 3/3/11 meeting, the trustees had discussed some disruptive behavior by one member of the public.
"I asked the board at the last meeting about how the board wants to respond to that and what the board feels we can do within the limits of what we are permitted to do."
Vic: We established some rules a few months ago about controlling the meetings. I still feel the same. We need to conduct our business and get through it and maintain order of the meeting. I still feel that way and feel that way about the incident at the last meeting.
Jason: I feel the same. We are here to conduct township business in an orderly fashion. We can't allow disruptions. That is my feeling.
Mark: I agree. I considered, because of the behavior, to [deny] at the next meeting the opportunity for [that person to speak in] public comment. There has to be some penalty for the behavior or it will continue.
The trustees agreed on the need for both order and for consequences if a member of the public disrupts that order.
Public Comment began at 8:45. Speakers: Robert Moody, Frank Horack, Terri Vechery, Dave Pollard.
A number of Aurora Meadows residents spoke; their comments are in the previous post (below).
Robert Moody, 11783 Mantua Center Road. Note: Mr. Moody's property and house are adjacent to the school property. The school has its own sewage treatment facility, which includes an aerator. The aerator runs as it needs to (I think) and is noisy and annoying.
Mr. Moody was inquiring about whether anything could be done to reduce the noise.
Mark: We have put mufflers on it several years ago. We can look again, perhaps at a surround or a shelter for it.
Vic: Even with a shelter, it would still have to be open on one side. We have considered a timer on it. Perhaps in one corner of the fence we could plant shrubs to muffle it. There is not much room to build on top of it. We would have to be very careful with what we would put into the ground-- there is a lot of stuff there.
Jason: Let us take a further look at it. We are willing to work with you. Keep in touch. I don't think anything is going to be foolproof, but we will try to make an effort.
Frank Horack, 4586 Winchell Road. About Aurora Meadows: I would think twice about putting your own gravel in for fill-in. It is the responsibility of the people doing the job. If you do anything, they will try to make it your fault [if there are any problems]. The more gravel you put up there, the less the contractor has to do. You should take the gravel off his bill.
Note: The sewer project is NOT a trustees' project, but has been mandated by the county; the bill or bid was presented to the county, not to the trustees. The trustees have been keeping track of the situation and have worked to maintain liaison between the residents and the county. They expressed a sense of responsibility to try to minimize the situation in Aurora Meadows.
Terri Vechery: Terri, who reports for The Community Journal, asked Marie to repeat the statement about the township's fiscal health. Terri also asked if the reserve was a cushion put in in anticipation of the local government share going away.
Dave Pollard, 3692 S.R. 82. Marie, I don't think anyone has actually come out and said it, but I want to say "thank you" for the good job you have done in your tenure. So many governments think they have to spend every penny that comes in every year. Perhaps a lot of people may realize that the township has done a good job of money management.
To everyone: Please watch for the road crew working and watch for the green vests and tell your neighjbors what is going on [with patching to repair the damage from the winter]. I don't think I have seen this much water anywhere in my lifetime.
At this point, Mark Hall announced that public comment was over. But wait, there's more:
Dawn Pechman spoke up to say that Mark must have missed her.
Mark: You were not missed, Dawn. Mark explained that it was Dawn's disruptive behavior at the last meeting that had been the topic of the discussion about order and that the consequence of her behavior was to lose the opportunity to speak at this meeting.
Dawn was not pleased, and made an indignant remark to this effect: Do you mean to tell me that during National Sunshine [Law] Week, you're not going to let me speak?
That was exactly what Mark meant.
Blogger's note: Ever since I began attending meetings, in late 2004 or early 2005, Dawn has been a disruptive element in meetings. For three meetings at the end of 2010, after the trustees reminded everyone that proper order required that people remain seated for public comment, Dawn sat at the back of the room and when she was called for public comment, got up, carried her chair up to the front table, and then sat down. She completely ignored admonitions from Mark to remain seated, stating that she had a hearing loss and wanted to sit close to the trustees so she could hear.
She has also remained or tried to remain standing on one pretext or another; at this (3/17/11) meeting, Mark invited her to be seated and made sure that she did take a chair.
Further note: At the 3/3/11 meeting, Dawn sat at the side of the room on a bench there--behind Marie. Dawn was not pleased about the trustees' acceptance of the Open House Committee and, after making her comments, got up and walked quickly up behind Marie and threw a sheet of paper with her records requests on it over Marie's shoulder and onto the table. Mark remonstrated with her to sit down, and Dawn said that she was leaving.
On the surface of it, the whole thing seems minor. Cumulatively, it is not minor. Think about the old saying, "That was the straw that broke the camel's back." Up until this meeting, there have been no consequences for Dawn's behavior: one or another trustee would try to bring her to order, and she would completely ignore him and press on. That extends to not observing the 5-minute rule. And none of it seems worth it all, if you are merely reading about it in this blog. It's different if you've watched it all for a number of years.
About This Blog
The purpose of this blog is to give an accurate account of what is said during Public Comment at Mantua Township Trustees meetings.
Trustees' decisions are in the official minutes, available on request from the Mantua Township Fiscal Officer, Jodi Thompson, at 330-274-8443. The Township charges 10 cents per page. FAX, 330-274-8447. E-mail, fiscalofficer@mantuatownshipohio.gov. The minutes are also posted on the website after they have been approved. That means that there is usually a two-week lag between a given meeting and the minutes being available to read on the website.
Since meetings are the first and third Thursdays of the month, there is a three-week wait during months with five Thursdays.
Other items of interest or the writer's opinions will be included from time to time, clearly identified.
This is not a forum or chat room, but a source of information, so it is closed to outside input.
During the time I have been doing the blog, the posts have expanded to become very detailed accounts of the meetings. Doing that is time consuming, to say the least, and I am going to try to return to the public comment focus, with background and perspective (and the occasional pointed editorial comment). Such additions are usually enclosed in brackets. However, since some extended accounts of the meetings reveal significant things--and character--better than I could by commenting, there will probably still be a fair amount of semi-transcript. (Sigh.)
My thanks to the readers who have found the blog, and to the ones who from time to time tell me that they value it. You have encouraged me when the tedious work of keyboarding has made me wonder why I am doing this. Then you have reminded me, and I am grateful.
Trustees' decisions are in the official minutes, available on request from the Mantua Township Fiscal Officer, Jodi Thompson, at 330-274-8443. The Township charges 10 cents per page. FAX, 330-274-8447. E-mail, fiscalofficer@mantuatownshipohio.gov. The minutes are also posted on the website after they have been approved. That means that there is usually a two-week lag between a given meeting and the minutes being available to read on the website.
Since meetings are the first and third Thursdays of the month, there is a three-week wait during months with five Thursdays.
Other items of interest or the writer's opinions will be included from time to time, clearly identified.
This is not a forum or chat room, but a source of information, so it is closed to outside input.
During the time I have been doing the blog, the posts have expanded to become very detailed accounts of the meetings. Doing that is time consuming, to say the least, and I am going to try to return to the public comment focus, with background and perspective (and the occasional pointed editorial comment). Such additions are usually enclosed in brackets. However, since some extended accounts of the meetings reveal significant things--and character--better than I could by commenting, there will probably still be a fair amount of semi-transcript. (Sigh.)
My thanks to the readers who have found the blog, and to the ones who from time to time tell me that they value it. You have encouraged me when the tedious work of keyboarding has made me wonder why I am doing this. Then you have reminded me, and I am grateful.
Principles
Two ideas guide and support me:
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
______Attributed to Edmund Burke
GOOD PREVAILS.
Those ideas are also the reason I have been doing the blog since late February 2011.
I have discovered that a transcript is almost impossible to do and that verbatim accounts are usually not absolutely necessary. When in doubt, I check against a recording.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.
______Attributed to Edmund Burke
GOOD PREVAILS.
Those ideas are also the reason I have been doing the blog since late February 2011.
I have discovered that a transcript is almost impossible to do and that verbatim accounts are usually not absolutely necessary. When in doubt, I check against a recording.
