The Independence Township Board’s 5 p.m. “special meeting” of May 16, 2023 regarding a four-day work week once again ignored any input from taxpayers.
Township officials were in such a rush to get their unfavorable four-day work proposal in place that they held a “special meeting” at 5 p.m. with the expressed purpose of going around any public comment to pass a proposal that only township employees will benefit from.
The 5 p.m. meeting time makes it obvious that this board doesn’t care what the public wants. Serving taxpayers is clearly not their concern.
Taxpayers paid for a “survey” that only included township employees. Then we paid for a “special meeting” to pass a four-day work week proposal that didn’t include public comment. And then the public is given notice of the meeting discussing the “progress” after the meeting occurs locking them out again? Clearly this shows taxpayers that the new board isn’t interested in taking letter writer Vincent Bozzone’s advice to “hear what the people have to say” and to wait long enough for “township residents to make their feelings known” before “this will be crammed down your throats.”
So when you stop off at Independence Township Hall after a hard days’ work on a Friday after putting in a five-day work week, you’ll now find it closed. You’ll have to wait until Monday to call your employees Jose Aliaga (supervisor), Cari Neubeck (clerk), and Paul Brown (treasurer) who’ll be sitting at home on Fridays laughing about how they sneaked their four-day work week around those who pay their salaries.
In near-record time, taxpayers have seen how the supervisor and the Independence Township board has so quickly taken the public out of “public servant” in this township!
Michael Powell
Independence Township