Trustees Reports began at 8:35 with John Festa's remarks.
John Festa: All Boards Meeting. I had some questions that I need to get familiar with.
First, talk of the land use plan. I have not gotten a copy yet. I know it has been around for quite a while. Has it ever been implemented?
Vic: Portions of it have been.
John Festa: Have there been any resolutions on it?
Vic: Yes. It is basically implemented.
John Festa: Is there an ongoing basis for review?
Vic: It depends on the community. Todd Peetz said that Kent or Aurora has not looked at theirs for 20 years.
John Festa reiterated that he had not received a copy yet.
Marie: I probably have a master, but have not been able to get into the office.
[Blogger: What follows is the crux of what John Festa had to say. If you have not read Lynn Harvey's letter posted in the blog earlier, this would be a good time to do it. Also, Terri Vechery's article in the February 6 Community Journal has an almost verbatim account.]
John Festa: I also want to review the letter that was read by Lynn Harvey at the meeting. Some of the points that were made on the alternates and amount of time they spend at the meetings.
He reviewed the number of times the alternates were seated at the 124 zoning meetings that had been held.
Then he broke it down to percentages--34% and 41%. Combined, it came to 37-1/2% for the alternates.[Blogger: These percentages were for number of times seated, I believe.]
The commission members had 62-1/2%. I wanted to let everyone know that our appointed members have attended 62-1/2% of the time. Appointed members should consider upping their attendance at these meetings. I had no idea attendance was so low. [Blogger: He signs the checks. How is it that he doesn't know what is going on?]
Continuing: Six "no quorum" meetings were avoided because we had two alternates available. If Lynn Harvey had been here, I would have asked her [about] that.
Continuing: The last point was reports to the trustees for zoning commission meetings. I would like to propose that we require a report every month or at least have their meetings submitted to the trustees. I would also like to propose that we are informed about the attendance as well.
[Blogger: Is this a request for information, or is it simply a desire to hold court?]
Continuing: The BZA: Some of their concerns were time [between hearings]. Maybe we can provide them with some materials that they can review or that we can purchase for them to do mock hearings. They were concerned about the time between their meetings. I don't know how the board feels. [Blogger: With two lawyers on the BZA, I bet they can come up with something without help.]
Jason: I think that mock sessions would be up to them. Any trainings that come out are offered to both boards. I have not seen any of those cross the table in a while.
Vic: Usually those are _____.[Blogger's miss.] The prosecutor's office has not done anything for quite some time.
John Festa: How does the board feel about requiring monthly reports?
Vic: Do you want their minutes? That would explain everything. As far as attendance, Marie gets those.
John Festa: I think we are entitled. [Blogger's emphasis. I believe this word is fraught with meaning for this trustee.]
Jason: I/we get a checkbox when we sign the checks.
John Festa: The Zoning Inspector and sexton provide us with reports.
[Blogger: Of course they do. They are individuals and do not have meetings that produce minutes. If the trustees are to be informed about their activities, those individuals have to report.]
John Festa, continuing: I think we should know more what our boards are doing.
[Blogger: On to dropping the other shoe.]
John Festa: The last thing is our township getting our message out to the public. I noticed a lot of times that we do not have any time to get the trustees' message out as it comes to the board. There are unauthorized websites and blogs and social media filling the air waves. We do not provide any recording of our own meetings. Those are provided by an unauthorized website [on which Trustee Festa has been listed as a supporter. What's the problem now?]
There are people that don't even know we have purchased a piece of equipment and don't know when the meetings are. Our website has information that is not up to date. I think on our website we should have a trustees' corner or a way to discuss things important to us. Some reporting has not been particularly fair to the trustees. I have some issues with that.
[Blogger: I guess it depends on whose ox is being gored as to whether that unauthorized website is just great or not satisfactory. Let me make this really clear: After that website was created, there were concerted efforts to make Vic and Mark look as bad as possible. It was brutally done by a lifelong bully and his buddies and painful to watch. When the challenge is merely to be accountable-- and those challenged come up short, whether on website or blog--it isn't fair. Dear me.]
John Festa, continuing: I thought that perhaps the board could come up with ways we could get things out to the community. Maybe a newsletter. [That's the shoe.] We don't even have a logo that distinguishes us. We probably need to improve somewhat on our website. We want to be the one who gets the message out. I don't want to be second place. Are you happy with this?
Jason: You had mentioned a newsletter before. Crestwood has a mailed one. We can not do something monthly. Maybe quarterly. I hear what you are saying. There are mixed messages from various sources. If it came from the board it would be better.
[Blogger: The messages aren't mixed at all. The people who post on the unauthorized website--which John Festa has supported and that our own webmaster also manages-- those people systematically and with the courage born of anonymity say anything they please, no matter how ugly, vicious, untrue or just wrong. Their targets: anyone who disagrees with them, no matter how impeccable of character or dedicated service to the township.
[Your faithful blogger gives the history and backstory to some of the public things and voices her opinion of illogic and ignorance with--trust me--a large degree of self-restraint. A large degree. And I can tell you what my opinion is based on in the behavior of those I am criticizing. I think that actually qualifies as a conclusion.]
John Festa: You never see anything about improvements on the roads or how we are saving money. [Eh? Saving money?]
Jason: Some other townships publish a letter. Maybe we can see what they do.
Betsy Wolfe: Betsy said something about "Mantua Matters."
Vic: Our minutes are being put up on the website.
Marie: That is the official record.
John Festa: But on the official record you can't be specific. Things are not reported in the minutes. [Blogger: Now, there's a tantalizing comment!]
Marie: You can add to the minutes.
John Festa: I think the community deserves better from us. [Blogger: I agree. I just don't think that John Festa and I can agree on what "better" might mean.]
Jason: Bring some proposals.
Marie: We don't have enough money to pay for what we've got.
John Festa: What does that mean? Does it mean not get the word out?
Marie: You wanted to have a website for that purpose--make sure the website covers it. Isn't that the purpose of it?
John Festa: It is. So improve the website.
Jason. Bring something back.
John Festa: I want to make sure that people are informed. I do (would?) want to be informed, and I can't piece that together from what is on our website. I have no clue.
Jason: We have a direct line to Brent Simon. If you want things updated, update them.
[Blogger: A couple of things: Someone who spoke with me afterwards thought that the two junior trustees had thrown our webmaster under the bus. I have my doubts about that. The state of affairs in the township makes it difficult to believe that anything is what it seems. I have been in too many meetings that were clearly just stagecraft.
Second, Brent is not responsible for what is on the website. He simply puts on what he is told to put on. Or that is all he should do. If John Festa is not satisfied with our website, who took the lead to work on it with Brent? It wasn't Vic.]
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.
