Sumpter Township board tiff continues at July 10 regular meeting

At the July 10 regular meeting of the Sumpter Township board, Trustee Matthew Oddy again brought up the difference of opinion he has with Treasurer Peggy Morgan about his statements in submitting sealed bids to buy township property.
He said for the last eight weeks Treasurer Morgan and Trustee Sheena Barnes have “publicly spewed” the statements that they had no knowledge he was bidding on the township properties.
He said he abstained from the vote on the properties because he took part in the bidding.
“These two have been lying about what was said,” Trustee Oddy said.
He got out his laptop and played part of the recording of the Nov. 28 workshop meeting, holding his microphone up to his computer. Then, he played another part and held the microphone up again. Both recordings he played were very hard to hear or understand in the audience.
He said he clearly stated he was involved with the bidding and abstained because he took part in the bids.
He said Treasurer Morgan asked, “These are your bids?” and he said they were.
He called her recent statements “absolutely slanderous.”
“I never uttered those words,” Trustee Oddy said, apparently referring to the conversation in a restaurant that has been described by Treasurer Morgan and Trustee Barnes as Oddy bragging about being a winning bidder on a property and them being surprised that he had bid.
He said he hopes the Independent exposes the two for what they have said.
At the July 10 meeting, an agitated Oddy waved his hands around and in a loud voice asked attorney Rob Young if he would make a comment.
“I don’t remember what was said six months ago,” Young replied, adding that listening to the recording (he was seated next to Oddy) he sees what he said then is consistent with what he’s said ever since that it was not a conflict of interest for Oddy to bid on the properties as long as he alerted the board to what he was doing and abstained from the vote on the properties.
Oddy said Treasurer Morgan asked two follow-up questions at the Nov. 28 meeting.
Trustee Barnes said Oddy is a liar in calling them liars.
“I have the tape,” Trustee Barnes said. “You said out of your mouth, ‘I took people around’ as the excuse for abstaining from the vote.
“I made many statements,” he said cutting into Barnes’ comments.
“They knew I bid on these properties … I made an official statement why I was abstaining,” Oddy said.
Supervisor John Morgan cut off the argument to go on with the meeting.
At the end of the meeting, resident Mary Herring said two to three board members, have dissention among themselves and there is grandstanding, “much ado about nothing” and much ado about what was said.
“Let’s concentrate on important things,” Herring said, noting that board members have bid on properties since 1969 when she moved into the township.
“I believe Mr. Oddy is an honest person and I’m disappointed in the others. Get over it already!” she said.
Resident Mary Ban said the Board Response part of the meeting was set up to allow board members to respond to previous questions that had been asked by members of the community not for “tirade and vendetta.”
Both Treasurer Morgan and Trustee Oddy later furnished the Independent with recordings of that Nov. 28 meeting. The Independent attended the regular meeting that night but was unable to attend the workshop session where Oddy made his statements.
After the July 10 meeting, the Independent asked Deputy Clerk Dawn Hadyniak, who takes the minutes of the meetings, why Oddy abstained from voting on three properties that were being sold and she said Oddy explained that he had taken people around to look at the properties.
On the recording of the workshop, Oddy said he will abstain from voting on the three properties because, “I was involved in bids on these properties.”
“One of his bids was accepted,” said attorney Young. “I don’t know which one.”
“I was involved in bids on those properties. That’s why I abstain,” Oddy said.
“Oh, you mean it’s your own?” Treasurer Morgan asked and Oddy replied, “Yes.”
Those were the only comments during the Nov. 28 meeting about why he abstained. During the vote on the property sales, Oddy seconded the motion to approve the sales and then announced he was abstaining from items E, K, and L.
At recent meetings, Treasurer Morgan said he never said right out that he was the one bidding on the properties and his name was not on the bid. The name of a real estate investment LLC, First Step, was on the bid. Oddy later said, along with him, other people participate in First Step.