Sumpter Twp. Board approves confidentiality agreement for employees

The Sumpter Township Board of Trustees voted 5-1 to approve a confidentiality agreement for township employees at its regular meeting March 14. Employees could be fired if they violated the agreement.
Trustee Peggy Morgan was the only no vote. Supervisor Tim Bowman was absent.
During the workshop Trustee Morgan asked if the township had had this kind of agreement prior and if there’s a state law on this why is the township putting this out?
Township attorney Rob Young said at the end of the day, the township has a right to set qualifications. He said a lot of harm can come to an individual if some information is revealed. He said they should not reveal people’s information to anyone.
He said he didn’t know how this was going to be enforced because it was new.
Morgan said if has been an issue, why is this being done now?
Young said some information has gotten out and harmed someone and they are trying to control it. He said the agreement isn’t putative in nature so that people have to worry about it.
Morgan said maybe the township clerk has such information, but the average employee doesn’t have that kind of information.
“We are trying to stop someone from causing problems,” Young said, adding it’s intended to try to keep something from happening. He said if something gets out and causes harm he doesn’t want the board to ask him why he didn’t do something to stop it.
Morgan asks what will happen if an employee won’t sign and it should be up to them. She said she didn’t think there has been a problem and if there has been, she hasn’t heard about it.
Young said they have dealt with ugly issues that didn’t get out. He said employees shouldn’t share other people’s information.
Trustee Don LaPorte said this pertains to the police and fire departments who see a lot. He said someone could be running his mouth saying do you see how they live or what they have.
Trustee Matt Oddy, who was chairing the meeting in the supervisor’s absence, said he has to sign a confidentiality agreement at his job and he doesn’t know why anyone would have a problem with signing.
“Someone could lose their job,” said Morgan, adding, “I don’t think it’s protecting anyone.”
Trustee Tim Rush said he has to sign such an agreement at his “day job” once a year. “It’s a tool to help protect our township,” he said.