[Blogger Foreword: Sue raised several questions and issues. This part of her remarks came at the end of what she said, but is particularly apropos, in light of recent events and commentary. I think you will see why as you read through this post.]
Note: 8:07 a.m. Tuesday, 9/24: This post was entered late on 9/23. I have not yet listened to the recording to see if something I could not write fast enough to get verbatim needs to be augmented or revised. When that has been done, this note will be changed to reflect the review.
Note: 8:30p.m. 9/25: Having reviewed Sue's remarks on the recording, everything of substance has been included already.
Sue Skrovan: The last thing: A comment about after the last meeting. This is about the questions raised to me and the Garden Club and the work we do. I have put together a list of what I have done.
Organizations:
Member, Mantua Center Garden Club
Member, Ladies' Cemetery Association
Member, Mantua Restoration Society, Inc.
Volunteer Activities:
Spring Cleanup
Plant flowers in Townhall bed
Plant flowers in Historical Marker bed
Plant flowers in Civic Center bed
Up until this year (2013), plant flowers at the Park sign
Pick up plants needed for above beds
Clean at Mantua Center School building
Weed at Mantua Center School building
Take pictures of events, including Memorial Day Parade, Cemetery, Township dinner. Spring/tire cleanup, Township projects and events.
Set up/clean up for Township Dinners and Christmas luncheons
Have, in past, taken meeting minutes in Marie's absence.
In past, prepped and planted Township's hanging baskets.
Processed, labeled, and did layout of Township's Fair board including, at times, delivering and picking up the Board at the Fair.
I have been ridiculed and things said about me and things on the public website. Letters have anonymously been sent, even [something] in the paper. All for volunteering and giving of my time. I could go on for a long time.
I would hope that the next time any of the trustees get a call anonymously complaining about something that looks bad in this township that the trustees support the clubs and the people who volunteer and tell the caller to lend a hand. No one can keep up with the weeds. The Garden Club will do their best, but I would hope that people would be told to give a hand.
Sue thanked Dawn Pechman for lending a hand at the beds after the last Garden Club meeting. [Blogger: Later, in Dawn's remarks, you will be able to see Dawn's gratitude for Sue's acknowledgment.]
Jason responded at length, but nowhere did he specifically acknowledge Sue or recognize her years of contribution to the township. To wit:
I don't think I was singling any one person out. I appreciate any act of volunteering in any form. [A general, catchall remark that could apply to anyone or no one.]What I was simply stating is that simply the flower bed at the flagpole is becoming overgrown. In the past Terri Vechery [another example of throwing someone under the bus who is not present] said that they were getting a bit older and it was getting tough to manage.
What we need as trustees is an expectation. When we work with the LCA [Jason is referring to two people, not the whole organization], it sees like a good relationship. They call us every two weeks. I think as a board we are under the assumption that the beds should be maintained a little closer by the Garden Club and if that is not the case, it [the board] should know that. We want to work in conjunction with the Garden Club, road crew, and trustees. We want to know about how it can be maintained.
Sue: This is township property and should be maintained.
Jason: It is the center of our township and a lot of traffic goes down there.
Sue: Maybe the folks complaining should help out. We have not called the garage because we have felt that the garage had better things to do. We typically don't call to ask if they can come out and help us with the weeding.
Continuing: I do not feel that one phone call should have raised all the questions it did.
Jason: A lot of it is my observation also.
[Blogger: Jason's comments pretty much had to be included with Sue's, but it is what she said that I want to build upon. What is interesting here is that he has focused on his own purposes only, without acknowledging the pain that Sue has experienced, which was evident in her voice and should have been clear, since she was sitting directly in front of the trustees' table.]. Italicized text added 9/24.
I know what was in at least one of the anonymous letters Sue received, because five of us got the same letter, each without a signature.
I have seen the most recent anonymous message to Sue, or about her. It is sexually obscene. This is the kind of thing that began as if a switch had been flipped after the 2009 election.
You do the math to see who ran and who was going to run then.
This is what most residents do not know about. They see a beautiful, still-rural township and are glad to live here where it is so peaceful. The people I have met in the last month would have been appalled and sickened by the knowledge that such a hateful thing had been delivered to Sue. They would like to believe that it is beautiful in every aspect.
So would I, but it is not. Marie's letter to the Record Courier, posted in its original entirety in the blog, was dead on as far as it went. What Marie listed was only a small part of what has been visited upon certain people in the Township over the past several years. As Billy Mays used to say, "But wait! There's more!." It deserves its own post.
Thanks for reading this.]
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.
