After speakng to many residents in the community and hearing various rumors, Independence Township Trustee Larry Rosso, decided it was time to end any and all involvement in trash hauling and alternate waste methods.
‘We have so many issues we’re dealing with here. It has been so exasperating. Our time with the budget and financial issues we’re facing, it is getting more intense as we get closer to the year’s end,? Rosso said. ‘I think we need to at least put this one to rest because why do people keep regurgitating this whole disposal issue up again, when we thought it was removed??
Wagner said the single hauler idea has been removed and there is no discussion on it. Rosso brought forth a motion, ‘Independence Township and its representatives will immediately discontinue all participation in the group study, deliberations, consideration and all other activities related to potential for alternative solid waste disposal, recycling and/or conversion technologies or any aspect of the trash/garbage service.?
Wagner said he felt the motion ‘tied his hands.?
‘The next thing you can do is say I can’t talk to anybody,? he said. ‘I think the board, has got a consensus on this, that as far as the single hauler, it’s not even being discussed. If what you’re telling the supervisor is he can’t go out and have different discussions, which I do day in and day out on all kinds of different issues, that I should just stop that?
Trustee David Lohmeier disagreed.
‘Nothing in this that I can see says you can’t continue to operate on a normal day-to-day basis, but we are definitively stepping out of this thing,? he said. ‘That doesn’t mean a year from now or even six months from now, if a group has a great idea, they can’t approach us, much like (Groveland Township Supervisor Bob) DePalma did the first time and says ‘we’d like you to consider things.??
However, Township Attorney Steve Jopich said Rosso’s motion might be
‘treading on freedom of speech rights.?
‘This is fairly broad motion,? Joppich said. ‘It is all encompassing and it contains a couple terms in there that would get into speech.?
Trustee Neil Wallace told Joppich it was a ‘stretch? to say it ‘potentially involves speech.?
‘We went into this process with it being presented to the board asking for authority to go forward,? Wallace said. ‘As an authority going in, we can pull it back.?
Joppich recommended a separate motion, which he felt didn’t infringe on First Amendment rights. Clerk Shelagh VanderVeen said board members may not necessarily like the wording, but she felt it accomplishes what they want it to accomplish and puts them ‘on safe ground.?
‘I agree with you ? we’ve wasted a lot of time, the public coming in here, hours we’ve spent listening,? VanderVeen said. ‘They’ve spoken, I’ve heard them, and tonight if I could put this trash talk to bed, I would be a very happy person.?
The board voted unanimously to approve the motion. Trustee Mark Petterson was absent.