Injuries and Usurpations¹

The Heidelberger Township Board of Supervisors (BOS) and their manager have lost touch with the township. They take for granted our tax dollars and they attack and attempt to silence anyone who questions how the tax dollars are being spent. This behavior is manifested in the way the township meetings are being conducted and indicates that there is no plan to deal with the township’s problems. This lack of plans leads to gross misuse of our taxes, poor governance, and a circle the wagons mentality used by the BOS to defend its broken services.

There is a better way!

Below is a summary of some of the ways in which the current BOS is neglecting its duties:

• Township residents are derided and ridiculed for daring to ask questions during these meetings. Serious procedural questions are dismissed with eye rolls and juvenile laughter.
  • My own husband has been the target of xenophobic and bigoted attacks from both the audience and the BOS during these meetings.
  • The BOS and their supporters spread their narrative and coordinate with social media moderators to censor critics, yet they accuse our side of “misinformation”. Sounds familiar?
  • The BOS and their cronies have been infected by the same elitist beliefs that have led to so much government abuse in the past few years. At the June township meeting, one of their supporters claimed that our residents are not smart enough to understand their own tax rates. A different supporter then condescendingly read out their own tax bills, as if we did not know how our property taxes work.
  • Now, true to form, they want to start a newsletter which is likely to simply serve as a propaganda outlet for the majority in the BOS.
  • Truly, the problems of our nation are being played out in our township!

• A double standard is applied to those who support the BOS majority vs those who question certain actions. This dismissal of the township residents and tax payers is a fundamental violation of the relationship between our government and our local residents. The government runs the meetings but the people, through their questions and comments, should run the township.

• Sunshine act violations occur routinely, when the Manager obtains approval from the supervisors ahead of time on items that should be addressed during the meetings. For example, amendments to minutes, resolutions, policies, procedures and ordinances. The worst of these violations involve the spending of money not approved by the BOS ahead of time.

• The BOS refuses to be proactive or thoughtful about any of the township problems, from the playground to the water company.
  • Developing a plan that incorporates grant applications provides guidance, reduces confusion, and is a better use of tax payer dollars. The BOS appears to have abandoned any attempts to acquire state funds. Other than for road work, no grants have been received in over a decade – the last grant we received was in 2011.
  • Instead, the BOS throws money at problems and repeatedly kicks the can down the road. The playground has been closed for close to two years, no grants have ever been written, and the BOS voted to spend $54K, has now gone over that amount, all with no plan and no hope of getting the playground open before 2024.
  • Similarly, the BOS has put us in the hole for $25K for the water company, yet no work has been done and there is no solution for the this problem in the horizon. We acquired this utility over three years ago because of problems, specifically insufficient water supply creating safety and health concerns. It should have been a priority for the BOS to obtain grant money to address these problems, yet after three years no grants have been written and no attempt has been made to correct the problem.