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.
