What was a bad practice is now a bad policy, according to Trustee David Lohmeier.
‘I’m concerned we (trustees) won’t have as much influence to talk about things that are really important, like the town hall and other major expenditures,? said Lohmeier at the Jan. 20 Independence Township Board meeting.
The new policy, approved 4-3, requires trustees who want items placed on the agenda to first go to the supervisor. The supervisor must promptly decide if it will be placed on the agenda. If denied, the item can be re-submitted jointly with the clerk or treasurer.
‘I think the supervisor needs to make final determination of what goes on the agenda,? said Clerk Shelagh VanderVeen. ‘By allowing a trustee to approach another full-time elected official, that gives you extra rights. We don’t want to get to the point where our agendas are so cumbersome that we can’t fully devote ourselves to meaningful cogent deliberation on any item.?
Trustee Neil Wallace disagreed.
‘I’m not really concerned with the efficiency of these meetings,? Wallace said. ‘We are here to serve the public. As a board, we do that in a public meeting. It may be ugly at times and it may be inefficient. As it stands now, it is as easy for a department head or a citizen to get access to this agenda as it is an elected trustee and that’s simply not right.?
State law allows elected officials to place items on an agenda, he said.
‘The role of the township board by state law is to run the township,? he said. ‘We ought to, all of us, have the opportunity to make proposals and express our concerns in a public meeting. The township is not our personal chiefdom of anything. It is the legislative body that serves the citizens of the community?
Lohmeier said he hopes the board will ‘correct? the policy in the future.
‘I think we’ve got a board that is smart enough to do that,? he said. ‘In the meantime, I’ll have to live with a bad policy.?
Lohmeier introduced his own policy proposal, but it was defeated, 4-3.
‘What I was suggesting is if any board member asks for an item to be on the agenda, it should be placed there if time permits,? he said. ‘If time doesn’t permit, the supervisor should let them know immediately and it should be placed on the next agenda date that’s available.?
If two board members together request an item for the agenda, it would be placed there, he said.
Treasurer Curt Carson said he ‘fundamentally believed? any two members of the board should have the right to place an item on the agenda, but he voted against both policies.
‘I didn’t like the way either one of them was written,? said Carson. ‘If you’re going to have a policy that’s going to be of record and you’re going to follow it, then I think all the details need to be worked out.?
Details included how and when items needed to be turned in, he said.
Trustee Larry Rosso voted in favor of both proposals. He said his greatest concern was to have a policy in place.
‘We had zero policy. It was all practice, so that was my basis for it,? he said. ‘I thought we should have a policy.?
Wagner said he couldn’t support Lohmeier’s policy for several reasons.
‘The three full-time elected know day to day what’s happening, what’s coming up, what’s transpiring, where the trustees don’t have a grasp of what’s going on day to day,? said Wagner. ‘They don’t know what’s going to be on the agenda, they’re not aware of the different discussions I’ve had with the department heads in trying to form an agenda.?
He said he would have rather allowed township supervisors discretion to work out their own procedure, instead of creating an offical policy.
VanderVeen said the township’s agenda procedure has ‘never been an issue? and she supported Wagner’s recommendation.