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Health & Fitness

Conzelman, Edwards, & Reaume Fail The Transparency Test

The Supervisor, Clerk, and Treasurer of Plymouth Township continue to shroud themselves in secrecy from not only the public, but also from the other elected Trustees.

I was speaking last night with a small group of fellow Republicans. We were just discussing different things after a seminar about identity theft. We spoke of things like transparency, accountability, and fiscal responsibility, among other things. These things are really basic principles that Republicans stand for. They are the bedrock of our beliefs, and all of the other things spring from these basic principles.

Well, I got home, and I got to thinking about the Plymouth Township Board of Trustees, and how they all call themselves Republicans at election time, and then go all Jekyll and Hyde on us once the election is over. They seem to conveniently forget the three basic principles that all elected officials should embrace.

The three members of the Plymouth Township Board of Trustees entrusted with the day to day operations of our township, are a clear example of the failure of elected officials to remember these principles, and it is high time some of these things begin to get pointed out. I am going to start today with something so silly and benign, that it would hardly be worth mentioning if it weren't for the unbelievable foolishness of township officials.

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We will call this “Postergate.” It all started when Plymouth Township decided to borrow a couple million dollars to do some pet projects. This all happened so quick that taxpayers became incensed. They rightly felt that if they were going to be on the hook for two million dollars, it would have been better spent on infrastructure. Many felt that our aging firetrucks should have been replaced, before borrowing a couple million dollars to build things like an amphitheater, or an air conditioned pavilion in an outdoor park.

There were also huge cost overruns. The pavilion for example started out with a $100,000 projected cost. That quickly rose to $350,000, and months later has gone to over $600,000. That's a half million dollar increase, on a pavilion in a public park. The utter foolishness of having anything air conditioned in an outdoor park is beyond me. We have to drag our kids away from their computers, and their video games, just to get them outdoors, and in the sun, so what does Plymouth Township do? They build an air conditioned facility for them to go to once we finally drag them out of the house for gosh sakes.

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The kids need Sun! Save some money, and buy some baseballs and bats! Soccer balls! I can see it now. The place packed with kids, air conditioning cranked up, and a smart phone in each and every one of their hands. Playing MLB14 on their Ipads, or whatever it is they use these days. But I digress.

Anyway, the taxpayers were outraged by these extravagant projects, especially after the township laid off a bunch of firefighters a year or so prior, in what township officials called a necessary cost cutting measure. We have two of our three firetrucks fast approaching 30 years old, and folks didn't exactly want to spend over a quarter million dollars on an amphitheater for “one man plays” and another $600,000 on a glorified restroom.

So, in a clumsy effort to put a political spin on this whole mess, the geniuses at the township hall decided to make some fancy cardboard posters, and post them around our township hall. They brag about how our leaders are “Making Plymouth Township Even Better!”

They are really nice posters and all, really cool drawings, the whole works. Whoever made them, did a darn fine job. Except for one minor thing. In a move that can only be called petty and vindictive, the folks responsible for the design of these posters failed to put all seven members of the Board of Trustees on this poster. They only put the faces of those who voted for this 2 million dollar tax expenditure.

Trustees Bob Doroshewitz, and Chuck Curmi voted against borrowing 2 million dollars for these projects. They voted against them, and their pictures were left off the posters. This was wrong in a number of ways, the big one being that it was just plain childish.

There are also others who contend that this was a political move, and there could be Hatch Act concerns here. Some would say that the posters constitute campaign literature. If taxpayer money paid for these, and they do not include all members of the Board of Trustees on a township project, it could definitely be a violation of some sort of campaign finance law. If nothing else, it is unethical at the very least.

Now what really upset some folks, is that the Supervisor had these posters in the lobby of the township hall for folks to see at the Board of Trustees meeting. It was seen by taxpayers as an “in your face” move, just to rub it in. That is what truly angered folks, and they spoke about it at the meeting that evening. From that point forward, the posters were moved from the lobby to the locked up area of the township hall on meeting nights. I have a feeling that Supervisor Reaume was worried about folks defacing them, or maybe even stealing them. He was caught stealing campaign signs in the 2012 election, so he is very aware that these things can happen. He incorrectly assumed that all folks are like him, and may steal something that didn't belong to them. Nobody was going to do anything to his precious posters.

Every action, has a reaction, and the reaction of the public was to shine some sunlight on this matter. Mr. Duane Zantop, a longtime Plymouth Township resident, wanted some transparency on the issue, and filed a Freedom Of Information Act request. He submitted his FOIA request and asked who made the signs, how much did they cost, and who paid for the signs.

It would seem that this would be a very simple request. Well, nothing is simple when you are dealing with a municipality that does not believe in transparency. Mr. Zantop was not given answers to his very simple questions. He submitted a second FOIA request, to no avail. He then submitted a third FOIA request, and again, received the same exact response from Clerk Nancy Conzelman, and here it is:

As stated previously in response to your 2 prior requests and also in response to this request for the above information, the appropriate departments have reviewed the records and no responsive documents were found.


Sincerely,
Nancy Conzelman, Clerk
Charter Township of Plymouth

In light of this answer, I can only surmise that either nobody at the Plymouth Township Hall knows what the heck they are doing, or that Clerk Conzelman is in violation the Freedom Of Information Act. Let's get real here, she knows exactly who designed these posters, and who produced them. She is obviously suppressing this information because it has clearly become embarrassing to to herself, Supervisor Reaume, and to Treasurer Ronald Edwards, who at the last meeting, actually came out and admitted that these embarrassing posters were his idea.

When questioned about who paid for the posters by a long time Plymouth Township resident, Reaume stumbled with his answer, “I'm not, I don't know, I don't have an answer.” When pressed further for an answer, Reaume replied, “Do you have any other comments for the board?”  Treasurer Ronald Edwards finally chimed in and admitted that Plymouth Township paid for the posters.  Well heck, we all knew that, so why all the secrecy in the first place?

Here's the thing, Reaume is a smart guy, we all know that, so it really looks bad when he blatantly lies, and tells the man that he doesn't know the answer to the question. It was a flat out lie, and everybody knew it. I just don't get it. I'd respect the guy more if he just said “yeah we did it, and if you don't like it, tough beans.” At least we would know the guy had a little courage of conviction. At least he wouldn't be insulting our collective intelligence.

Now that I think of it, I'll bet Mr. Doroshewitz and Mr. Curmi don't even want their pictures on that poster. I know that I wouldn't want my name attached to this mess. 

In the end I go back to the three things that me and my friends were talking about the other night. Conzelman, Reaume, and Edwards have willingly failed the transparency test. They refuse to take accountability for their actions, and as far as fiscal responsibility goes, well, they got two firetrucks held together with duct tape and a prayer, but they go out and borrow two million dollars to pay for their pet projects.

I wonder if they saved some money in the budget for their little “We Did This” plaques that will most likely be proudly displayed at these two sites?

Look at the bright side, with only five names to list, at least the taxpayers will save some money on the engraving...

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