By Paul W. Henning
Independent Editor
At the most recent Sumpter Township board meeting, it seemed that Supervisor Timothy Bowman was hostile to all of the speakers at the podium except for Nicole VanAssche who was praising the board’s support of Parks and Rec. (Go to their website and watch the meeting for yourself.) In fact, he looked annoyed at his constituents who he is tasked with serving. This is not the best public relations for the township. Treating everyone with respect goes a long way.
There should be a special meeting held concerning the recent raises to let the public express how they feel. And let them finish talking so they feel heard.
Public officials should also keep in mind that they cannot necessarily automatically eject someone from a meeting based on a single violation of meeting rules. For example, in order to eject someone under rules prohibiting disruptions of the meeting, the individual must actually engage in conduct that would reasonably be deemed disruptive conduct. As a result, a government actor must be careful that the disruption defense is not used as pretext for ejecting an individual based on the content of the speech.
Just some things to keep in mind when engaging the public you are pledged to serve.