Censure? Savoie and Roncelli for FOIA email scandal...Yes.

Hi All,
The Bloomfield Township June 30, 2016 email scandal was effectively suppressed by Supervisor Savoie, Clerk Roncelli and others before the August 2 primary election.  They even cancelled the last Board of Trustees meeting before the election.  Didn't want any public comment concerning FOIA or the election?    At that cancelled meeting, I wanted to read the below "Resolution for Censure"   so the voting public would know of the unfair and fraudulent use of township email addresses.   The Aug. 2 election for the 7 township positions was very close.  I feel the  3000 or so email addresses that received the bogus email from Supervisor Savoie around the same time as the absentee ballots arrived in the mail of thousands of voters may have made a difference in the results.  I FOIA the same list of email addresses on June 30, 2016  and was denied the FOIA on July 22,  23 days after Savoie USED those email addresses to promote himself, the clerk and others on his slate.  An unfair advantage in a very close and contested election.

Since Trustee Neal Barnett wrote a Censure against Dan Devine on July 13, 2015..... I felt there should be a Censure against the Clerk and the Supervisor for their real illegal actions.   I did read this "Resolution" during public comment at the August 8, 2016 meeting,  too late to make a difference in the 8/2/16  primary.

While I was reading the Resolution in my 3 min allotted time on 8/8/16, Trustee Brian Kepes,  left the Board seat and room while I was speaking at public comment.... something he often does when I speak.....with his usual disrespect toward me and anyone else he disagrees with.   The voters made a huge mistake in the Treasurer's race and is sending the wrong  person to the November ballot.

FYI:   Resident, Alice Wachol, filed a complaint with the Attorney General of Michigan on this FOIA email issue.  It is past time for action to be taken by the AG.   The citizens of Bloomfield Township have pushed hard this election cycle to end the "family, friends and favors" culture that has gone on for decades.  This  FOIA issue was wrong and the media should have reported it and the facts in early July...before the election.

RESOLUTION FOR CENSURE OF BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP SUPERVISOR AND CLERK
  ( I read this at the 8/8/16 Board of Trustees meeting during my 3 minutes of Public Comment... but the Resolution was not brought by anyone on the Board of Trustees... and therefore, not officially accepted or voted on by the Board of Trustees.  But it should have been...)

WHEREAS, In conjunction with sending out the Absentee Ballots to Bloomfield Township voters, the Township Clerk abused her power as the FOIA Officer for Township records by releasing approximately 3,000 private email addresses to the Township Supervisor to be used for their mutual political benefits, and

WHEREAS, those addresses were held by the Township for the sole purpose of communicating legitimate Township news to those residents who signed up for such purpose with the promise that their privacy would be protected by a "Privacy Policy" conspicuously made apparent in the sign-up process on the Township Website, and

WHEREAS, the Township Supervisor then created a bogus email domain entitled "BloomfieldElections.com" to confuse the recipients to believe that the transmission from that site was actually from the Township Clerk's official elections domain entitled "BloomfieldElections.org", and

WHEREAS, The Township Supervisor emailed from the bogus email domain to the inappropriately obtained private email addresses of unwitting residents a communication including endorsements of the Clerk and the Supervisor by 2 local newspapers to fraudulently indicate that the Township's Election Department was officially urging recipient residents to vote for them, and

WHEREAS, the same private email list of Township residents was denied upon the FOIA request made by a Township Resident because it would "Violate the FOIA laws if such release were made", and

WHEREAS, The Clerk and Supervisor violated the same law and the privacy rights of their citizens in the scheme discussed above in a successful effort to fraudulently secure their re-elections.

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Bloomfield Township Clerk Roncelli and Supervisor Savoie shall be held in contempt by the residents of Bloomfield Township and hereby officially censured by the Township Board of Trustees   (should be, but not censured by Board)  for their collusion and the fraud perpetrated on the voters, and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that said Clerk and said Supervisor should be held accountable to any and all prevailing laws under the various State and Federal Penal Codes and pay the appropriate costs and imprisonment associated with their shameful behaviors.  

My opinion.
Marcia Robovitsky

Township ADDS agenda item/Censures Treasurer Dan Devine

Hi All,
What was scheduled as a rather routine township Board of Trustees meeting had a SURPRISE addition to the agenda on Monday, July 13, 2015.

I knew you could change the ORDER of agenda items, but I didn't know you could ADD a completely unrelated agenda item without PRIOR notice to the public.  Township Attorney Bill Hampton told me after the meeting that it is in Robert's Rules of Order that permit adding an agenda item to a PUBLIC meeting without prior notice.  I guess I need to re-read that document.

I feel that the Township KNEW about this issue ahead of time and could have put it on the agenda... or even waited 2 weeks for the next regularly scheduled meeting IN ORDER TO GIVE NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC OF THEIR INTENT.  They didn't.  I find that UNACCEPTABLE.

Trustee Corinne Khederian... was the person who wanted to discuss the recent article(s) about Dan Devine that recently has been making news.  She was the person to request the ADDED agenda item.  She was the one that began the public "discussion" of Dan Devine. 

The first person to write about this issue was Lisa Brody in Downtown Publications.   After the meeting I asked her how did she know to FOIA this police report.  She told me some police officers told her about it.   After that, Jay Grossman of the  Hometown Life  and The Detroit Free Press also wrote an article on the subject. 

Treasurer Devine admitted to speaking to the Township Police department, but claimed he did not file an official report.  

Now, this wasn't ANY agenda item... the "discussion" of Treasurer Dan Devine  ended with a motion of a pre-written Resolution for Censure of Mr. Devine by Trustee Neal Barnett and the motion was supported by Trustee Corinne Khederian.  The vote was 5-2 for Censure  with Treasurer Dan Devine and Trustee David Buckley voting NO.
 
The ADDED agenda item was obviously pre-planned:  who knew? ....  Some audience members were given a heads up to attend; the police chief and 2 police officers; the fire chief; someone made a written copy of the motion to add the agenda item; Trustee Neal Barnett had written copies of a Censure Resolution he wrote earlier in the day;  there was other paperwork (not fully discussed but handed out to the trustees) by Trustee Brian Kepes and there was at least one other township employee in the audience that was not needed for any scheduled agenda item. So... was he or others attending the meeting here for the "show"?   I forgot to mention the several news reporters and a photographer that often shoots pictures for the township and local papers.  Wow....  a pre-planned SECRET TO THE PUBLIC.... scathing agenda item. 

I told Supervisor Savoie after the meeting, that this agenda item... could have waited 2 weeks... and could have been POSTED properly.   My gut says... he was OK... with doing it this way.

Apparently Mr. Devine was prepared to make a public apology to Mr. Savoie at the end of the regular meeting, but seemed to have no prior knowledge that this "added agenda item" was coming.  With some saying Mr. Devine may have made a false police report,  thus, he remained quiet and did not respond to some questions without legal representation and/or legal advice.

While most of the "discussion" centered on the reported "kidnapping" issue, the Resolution to Censure went way beyond that.  Trustee Barnett included other issues in the Censure Resolution that he wrote and those other issues were not completely discussed tonight, thus Trustee Buckley was questioning the wording of the Resolution and thus voting no.

The best way to learn of this ADDED AGENDA ITEM and CENSURE of the Treasurer.... is to WATCH it on video.  It will take a day or so... if standard procedure is followed... to get the video to this link:  http://www.bloomfieldtwp.org/Services/cable/Videos/BoardOfTrusteeMeetings.asp

However, ......The Township also REPLAYS the Monday Board of Trustees meeting on local Bl. Township  cable TV...  Comcast  channel 15  and AT&T ??     It will be TUESDAY, July 14 @ 2pm.

I spoke at the Board meeting... enough said here.  My blog archives also speak volumes about the Township. 

In November 2016 ..ALL 7 Township government positions are on the ballot.   PLEASE... QUALIFIED people need to step up and get on the ballot.  The Township is in need of a TOTAL new slate of candidates.

Clearly, not all items were presented in the Board Packet for this meeting.  I asked during public comment, that all "extra items" presented about the ADDED agenda item be put in the Board Packet....for the public to see.  Don't know if that will happen.
Marcia

PS>  To Anonymous:  You can comment on my blog... but I have a system set up so I can review the comment before being published....or not....  I never publish any comment that also adds a link to some other website.  I'm not here to advertise your business.