Sumpter meeting gets raucous, official tape of meeting has no sound

During the regular meeting of the Sumpter Township Board of Trustees on Jan. 14, former Trustee Sheena Barnes got up to address the subject of ballots being destroyed in past elections that was mentioned in a letter to the editor in the Independent.
Actually, the subject was first broached by Clerk Esther Hurst who read a statement on the integrity of the elections in Sumpter. (This was printed in full in the Jan. 16 Independent.)
Then Treasurer Ken Bednark said since both Maria Beaudrie, who allegedly told Barnes about ballots being destroyed, and Barnes were in the audience, it could get straightened out right then. Just ask them, he suggested.
Bednark said he’d been approached by residents and Nelson Po spoke with people who said he couldn’t win because they throw away the votes. He said Barnes was told by Beaudrie and people who’ve been in the township a long time.
Bednark said that Trustee Tim Rush said the same thing a year ago. Bednark asked the board to investigate.
Attorney Rob Young said Po was a bad source and all the ballots have to be accounted for.
Beaudrie said she told Barnes that ballots for Barnes’ write-in campaign that had Barnes’ name spelled wrong were discarded.
Barnes said that wasn’t what Beaudrie told her. When attorney Young started talking about laws and how the ballots have to be handled, Barnes told him to keep out of the discussion and when he wouldn’t, she told him to shut up.
When Supervisor John Morgan intervened, Barnes told him to shut up, too. And, when Public Safety Director/Police Chief Eric Luke directed her to leave, she told him to shut up, too.
After Luke said he was going to eject her for disturbing a public meeting, she said she would leave on her own and would not be ejected.
Reportedly, Chief Luke taunted her with, “Bye, Sheena,” several times as she left the meeting room, with Barnes replying, “Shut up,” each time. She got the last word.
The audio/video recording of the meeting that was shown on cable television reportedly had no sound. The thumb drive that was produced with a recording of the meeting in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by the Independent, had sound that was garbled and unintelligible. With some special handling by the Independent the sound was produced in parts good enough to hear.
The new $60,000 recording system at the township had not been working properly since it was installed last year and finally had been successfully cablecasting in the township. But the cablecast of the Jan. 14 meeting was a step back, viewers said.
The Independent had to leave the meeting after the work/study session before the regular meeting started, to attend another meeting.
In other business at the Jan. 14 meeting, the board:
• Held a moment of silence in memory of Leroy Campbell, an employee of the water department, who died Dec. 25;
• Received and filed all the reports on the agenda, that usually are presented orally, including reports by the attorney, water and sewer, police, building / ordinance, fire, treasurer, and supervisor;
• Voted 6-1 to approve advertising for and hiring a new water department worker to replace Leroy Campbell, with Treasurer Bednark voting no. Bednark said he thought the board had voted for a moratorium on new hires and Trustee Matt Oddy said that was just for new positions. Bednark said performance reviews have not been done in that department and so they really don’t know if that position needs replacing;
• Approved the supervisor’s reappointment of Katrina Guisgand to the Board of Review with a term to expire Jan. 1, 2023. Bednark asked if Guisgand was in the audience and she wasn’t. He said he didn’t know anything about her and he asked Supervisor Morgan to tell him something about her and he said he didn’t know. It was pointed out this is a reappointment and she has served before;
• Approved the resolution setting poverty guidelines for 2020;
• Approved the resignation of fire fighters Collin Lynch, as of Jan. 6, and Courtney Frost as of Jan. 8;
• Approved the hiring of Joseph Jackson as a paid, on-call fire fighter contingent upon him passing a physical and a drug test. He introduced himself and said he has lived on Bohn Road in Sumpter Township since 2009, with his wife and three children;
• Heard Clerk Hurst announce the March 10 election and the 2020 Census; • Went into a 44-minute, closed-door session to discuss a proposed contract with the fire fighters’ union, to review an attorney-client letter, and to update and review the Futernick vs. Sumpter Township law suit; and
• Went back into regular session and approved a labor contract with the Michigan Association of Fire Fighters, with Trustee Don LaPorte abstaining from the vote since he is a fire fighter. The board also voted to proceed as discussed in closed session and accepted the attorney’s update and recommendations as advised during the closed session.