Page 1 of 5 -Special Board Meeting-December 15, 2009
State of Michigan
County of Shiawassee
Charter Township of Owosso
Be it known that the Owosso Charter Township Board of Trustees met in Special session on Tuesday December 15, 2009 at 6:07 P.M. in the Township Board Room, at 2998 W. M 21, Owosso, Michigan 48867.
Call to Order: Supervisor Miller led the Pledge to the Flag.
Members in attendance: Roll Call: Supervisor Miller-Yes, Trustee Campbell-Yes, Treasurer Cudney-Yes, Trustee Krajcovic-Yes, Trustee Schultz-Yes, Clerk Gute-Yes.
Agenda: Moved Trustee Schultz, Second Trustee Cudney to accept the agenda as printed. Roll Call: Trustee Krajcovic-Yes, Supervisor Miller-Yes, Clerk Gute-Yes, Trustee Schultz-Yes, Treasurer Cudney-Yes, Trustee Campbell-Yes.
Public Comments: Open @ 6:08 P.M. - Closed @ 6:12 P.M.
Holly Crawford, 2450 Krouse Rd/Woods and Fields Trailer Park read a prepared statement. (per audiotape)
Dick Gute has been voted out of office twice by the voters of the Township. Once in the primaries and once, as a write in candidate.
He should only get into office when an election of the people and not as an appointment by a very small group. I found him to be a person who did not listen to the voters of the Township in the past.
(Supervisor Miller interrupts) - Holly, whatever your statements are Holly do not, make them as a personal attack.
(Ms Crawford continues) - All right, I don’t believe he should receive this opportunity handed to him without permission of the voters. You as a board need to represent the voters as fairly as possible on this issue. So please think of the voters that you represent when you are voting.
I also believe that Clerk Gute should not be able to vote on this issue. I have questions about her voting on a issue that would include a candidate that is her spouse and so I question that issue and I’d really like you to discuss that before you vote. Um, I was very happy to have John Archer representing the voters and I would be very happy to see Joy Archer do the same thing. I think we need to look for new views and strengths and ideas and I hope you pick a candidate that will have that.
Clerk Gute: I have a question. Lynn Bowne, may I ask for that to be entered into the minutes, the letter.
Page 2 of 5 -Special Board Meeting-December 15, 2009
Attorney Bowne: Sure, that’s no problem. (clerk note: Attorney Bowne asks Ms Crawford) - Do you intend that, you read it from a prepared statement right.
Crawford: Yes.
Attorney Bowne: Do you mind if the board puts it on …just files it away.
Crawford: Certainly. I was wondering if there was any ruling to go with Township meetings about someone um, one being on the, I mean as a member of the board being able to vote on a position where their husband is going to be one of the candidates.
Attorney Bowne: ‘Judy Gute is an elected public official. She has a right to vote on fulfilling John Archer’s vacant position and even though her husband is an applicant for this she has a right to vote on that. She is not hiding anything. The public knows they are married. Township law as applied to Townships and Charter Townships allows husbands and wives to be on the board together and rulings have come down through the attorney general and so forth that there is no conflict of interest. It is perfectly okay for a husband and wife to sit on a board together. In fact she is, mandated by our laws to vote. She cannot sit on the board here and abstain when her husband comes up for a vote and she can’t pass. She has to vote and that’s pretty clear in the law.’
Supervisor Miller: The other part of that is according to, like you said there are no court rulings but it doesn’t benefit her and until you, if you cannot show that there is a benefit in court for the statute.
Resident Mike Thornton: If I am not mistaken and someone correct me if I am mistaken but unless it is personal gain okay, then that is the only way they could abstain from voting. So in this case it is not a personal gain therefore she has to vote.
Supervisor Miller: And that would be the benefit and the part is as Lynn stated it would have to be we’re not allowed to, not vote. It has to be something there is tremendous conflict. At that time also to do that it takes a unanimous vote of the board to allow anyone of us not to vote on a particular issue or lets say that one of the board members makes a very prevailing case against them not voting. So we go from there.
Candidates are secluded.
Clerk Gute: Mr. Supervisor I need to bring to the attention of the board that the ad specifically states that the candidates “must” turn these in (letters of interest) being postmarked at the post office by a certain date. I did get one that was sent to the post office and two that were not. It’s this boards pleasure. I talked with Lynn and he has some information here, I’ll let him talk and let him explain.
Page 3 of 5 -Special Board Meeting-December 15, 2009
Attorney Bowne: Her ad for the Township board vacancy also went out and had a date specific and the submitted response was supposed to be sent to the post office box. Today I went to, through the Michigan compiled laws and some other municipal law books and talked to Katherine at Michigan Township Association and ran the issue by her too. Realistically a couple of things on this is that the ad did state that a response should be made to the post office box. However, this is a public building that is open a lot and people bring in communications and drop them off all the time here. A lot of communications are received by first class mail. Someone might have learned about the vacancy from word of mouth and may not have even have read the ad. It’s my opinion that the failure to send a response to the post office box does not prevent an applicant from appearing before this board to fill that position. Part of that reasoning is that there is no law that mandates the method of communication of a vacancy or of this boards interest in filling that vacancy. This is a ah …the whole philosophy is openness in township law, ah, Freedom of Information Act, full disclosure. There shouldn’t be any barriers for people to ah participate in Township government. One of the unusual things and it was a night, it was an interesting twist that Katherine at MTA said is she said well did the board unanimously cast a motion authorizing specific wording and I said no. I think the wording was devised by Judy.
Clerk Gute: Between Danny and I. Not the whole board.
Supervisor Miller: I called Judy the night before and we knew what was going on.
Attorney Bowne: So the two of you authorized the language. She said that language can’t restrict the people that are interested because it could have, if the board as a whole at a public meeting had discussed it and said okay we are going to make all applicants submit their applications by such a date to a post office box. Any applications for this position that are dropped off at the Township hall or delivered by first class mail will not be considered. But that would of had to of been by board resolution and since that wasn’t done then the applicants are really free to come in and ah ask this board that they be considered.
Clerk Gute: Lynn and I talked because I was concerned with the “must” in there because by state elections when it says “must,” you “must” do it.
(end audiotape)
(Clerk note: Candidate Richard Gute is the only candidate that followed the provisions of the ad. No motion is made to accept or deny the applicants that did not follow the provisions of the ad).
Page 4 of 5 -Special Board Meeting-December 15, 2009
Candidates’ Interviews and Appointment of Trustee:
Candidate Joy Archer – Has lived in Owosso Township for 25 years. Enjoys being a part of Owosso Township. She has not been actively involved because of other commitments but she has a deep desire to be able to work with people and feels she is an honest person. She thinks you have to listen to the people. There are probably a lot of things she doesn’t know about the rules and regulations of the Township so she would have to really study information given to her so she could make wise decisions when her vote came up. She has an accounting background and a bachelor’s degree though her degree is not in accounting. Works full time for Memorial Healthcare and teaches at Baker College.
Candidate Richard Gute – Born and raised in Owosso Township and has lived in the Township all but a few years when he lived in the city. He has a Bachelors of Science degree in Human Resources from CMU. He spent 30 years in the human resource field, served 6 years on the Township Board of Review, 8 years as Owosso Township Clerk and 8 years as Owosso Township Supervisor. His interest to get back on the board is that his experience would be a benefit to the board and Township. He is convinced that the future is going to get tougher for Townships with revenue sharing cuts and etc., and there seems to be a large wave of taking things away from Township government. He firmly believes that Townships are their own entity and they need to stay here, they are our grassroots form of government. He has very adamantly fought and will continue to fight that Townships remain as they are and not lose anything. We have to listen to the wants and desires of all our residents not just a minority. He wants to see that all the residents receive a fair shake and having 22 years of serving in one capacity or another ought to say something. States we still have a Constitution of this State and a Constitution of the United States though he believes there are several of our politicians that are not listening to that. He believes he has a right to sit here tonight and make an application for the position.
Candidate Mike Thornton – Resident of the Township a little over 25 years. He is a member of the fire department and is on the Township Zoning Board of Appeals. Loves being in Owosso Township and the Township has been very good to him. He wants to make sure that taxpayer dollars are being used wisely and not over spent. The taxpayers have a right to know where their dollars are going and believes their voices need to be heard. He believes in weighting out the decisions and you have to do it by facts not by innuendos or theories. He has maintained budgets at his place of employment. He wants to be a voice of the people. He wants to maintain Township zoning and see more enhancements there. He has been to technical schools and Mott Community College and Montcalm College for courses dealing with interpersonal skills and relationships. He thinks he can really be a benefit to the Township in the long run. He is a supplier quality engineer.
Page 5 of 5 -Special Board Meeting-December 15, 2009
Move Gary Schultz, Second Supervisor Miller to accommodate Joy Archer. Discussion: Trustee Krajcovic asked candidate Archer how much time she could devote to the position. Candidate Archer said she would hope she could give it everything it needed. She does work full time with the hospital job and she was not going to teach at Baker during the upcoming winter term. Treasurer Cudney asked Mr. Thornton how his time was. Mr. Thornton said his time was getting much better. Treasurer Cudney asked Richard Gute about his time. Mr. Gute stated he had all the time in the world. Clerk Gute felt time was important for research because that was the only way to make an informed decision. Roll Call: Supervisor Miller-Yes, Treasurer Cudney-Yes, Trustee Campbell-No, Trustee Schultz-Yes, Trustee Krajcovic-Yes, Clerk Gute-No.
Public Comments: Open @ 6:55 P.M. Closed @ 6:57
Joy Archer states she wants the position for herself not her husband. She will do everything she can possibly do.
Board Comments: Clerk Gute said she had minutes that the Supervisor had not signed and asked if he was refusing to sign them. Supervisor Miller shook his head yes.
Adjournment: Moved Trustee Schultz, Second Krajcovic to adjourn at 6:54 P.M. Ayes: All. Nayes: None.
(Clerks Note: After the meeting resident Holly Crawford did sign and submit her prepared statement to be attached to the minutes. However, Ms Crawford called the clerk on Thursday December 17, 2009 and said she had changed her mind and requested that the clerk return her prepared statement/letter to her. Attached instead is a signed document by Ms Crawford that the clerk did return Ms Crawford’s prepared statement/letter to her).
Respectfully submitted,
Judy Gute, clerk
Owosso Charter Township
Danny Miller, supervisor
Owosso Charter Township
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