Township Board Stonewalls Community Members Two Weeks Before Primary

The necessary disclaimer. The views and opinions expressed here are not the opinions of Patch. They are my opinions, and mine only. I am not employed by Patch, and do not receive compensation from them, or any political entity or campaign. This is nothing more than an opinion piece protected by the 1st Amendment of our US Constitution, and should be treated as such.

I want to share with you what happens at a typical Plymouth Township Board of Trustees meeting under the leadership of Supervisor Shannon Price, Treasurer Ron Edwards, and Clerk Nancy Conzelman. The reason I feel compelled to share this, is that the August 2nd Primary is upon us, and the good people of Plymouth Township will have decisions to make on who will lead our township for the next four years.

There were four township taxpayers who stepped to the podium last night, myself among them, and we were all seeking answers from our leadership. The first speaker was Mr. Duane Zantop, and he began to read a statement that he had taken some time to compose for the meeting. He asked about the election sign ordinances in the township, and why Price, Edwards, and Conzelman were the only candidates breaking these rules on where they could be legally placed. He got nothing but a blank stare from Supervisor Price.

Mr. Zantop went on to ask about a FOIA request he had made, that had been denied. This was the most serious of Mr. Zantop's questions, as it regarded an alleged incident involving Treasurer Ron Edwards, pertaining to possible inappropriate behavior towards a female employee of Plymouth Township, and possible litigation stemming from that behavior. I can not say anything concrete about the facts of this incident, other than to say that it seems that thousands of dollars of taxpayer money have apparently been spent in legal fees involving this very serious matter. When Mr. Zantop began speaking about a letter regarding this matter, that he indicated came from a retired Plymouth Township police officer, Mr. Price became very agitated, and refused to let Mr. Zantop continue on that topic.

There was to be a closed session of the Board of Trustees later that night, and the thought is that the special session was to deal with the legal ramifications of denying Mr. Zantop's Freedom Of Information Act request for documents related to the possible allegations against Mr. Edwards. It appears that this group of elected, and appointed officials are making a concerted effort to conceal any information about this matter, at least until the elections are over. While this is probably what the lawyers are advising, I would opine that in the interest of transparency, they should at least acknowledge that an allegation exists, or deny that the allegation exists. While people may not have a need to know the sordid details, they have a right to know whether the guy who wants to be Treasurer is currently subject to possible litigation.

Another resident of Plymouth Township stepped to the podium, and this woman lives by the Plymouth Township park, and her comments centered upon the recent fireworks show, that is organized by Mr. Edwards, and our Park Director, Mike Mitchell. While she complimented the township on the actual fireworks display, she had several problems with the implementation of the event. In particular, she felt that private streets were not blocked off, when they should have been, people were allowed to simply park in the middle of the road, block people's driveways, and worse, people were using resident's yards to urinate. The question she had was, what if there had been some kind of medical emergency? There would have been no way for rescue personnel to make their way in to render aid, or transport somebody to a hospital or trauma center.

To be clear, this was not a police issue, but rather a planning issue, and the responsibility falls of the shoulders of either Treasurer Edwards, or Mike Mitchell, who was hired by Price for the specific reason of having somebody in charge of the park in general, and park events in particular. In fact, Price created this job when he was appointed Supervisor. Mitchell was his former assistant when Price was a Wayne County Commissioner, and Mitchell currently runs Price's political action committee, which funnels the money into Price's various political campaigns. Many thought that the hiring of Mr. Mitchell was a clear case of nepotism, but I digress. Bottom line, is that this resident brought her concerns to the meeting, and instead of an apology, or some kind of explanation for the snafu, she was met with a silent blank stare from Supervisor Price, and silence from Treasurer Edwards as well.

Another resident of Plymouth Township stepped to the podium, and wanted Supervisor Price to address some of the negativity in his campaign. Several pieces of literature have been sent to residents from the Price campaign, and almost all are of a negative nature, attacking write in candidate, Kurt Heise. There also have been pieces proclaiming Price to be a positive force for Plymouth Township, and praising his ethics. Her question was simply that if he were such a positive influence, why are his campaign mailings the only negative mailings that are being sent out? She hasn't seen any negative mailings from other candidates, and I imagine it seemed pretty hypocritical to her, and she simply wanted clarification.

If these negative statements were actually true, maybe he could shed some light on them. Maybe he could explain why such horrible statements were being made. This resident came with questions, but again, was met with a blank face. An almost hateful face. A cold look of disdain from the guy who proclaims himself to be so positive, and transparent.

These three residents treated this board respectfully, and they made cogent statements, without a hint of anger. They were repaid with utter disrespect from Mr. Shannon Price, and that, to me, is not leadership. That is the behavior of a person who does not see you as his equal, a person who does not see you as his neighbor, a person who only sees you as an impediment to his own personal agenda, his own personal goals, and his 100K salary.

I stepped to the podium as well. I have been disgusted by the blatant violations of the Plymouth Township election sign ordinances from these three people. None of the other township candidates for Supervisor, Treasurer, or Clerk, violated these ordinances. Their signs are in community member's yards for the most part. Their signs are on the property of supportive business owners, who want out from under the thumb of intimidating township officials. Their signs are not littering every street corner, Their signs are not destroying the beauty of the Downtown Development areas, their signs are in compliance of the order sent out by Plymouth Township's Chief Building Official, Mark Lewis, who is in charge of the Ordinance Department.

Mr. Lewis sent out a letter, on Plymouth Township stationary, complete with the names of Price, Edwards, and Conzelman on them. He sent this letter to every candidate, clearly spelling out where election signs can, and can not be placed. Price, Edwards, and Conzelman clearly violated all of the ordinances that they took an oath to enforce.

I have called the township hall several times to try and get clarification from Supervisor Price, and he has chosen not to return any of my calls. He promised to return all calls when he applied for the job, but has apparently forgotten that promise, so I was forced to take time out of my life to ask him in person, in a setting where he couldn't avoid me.

I stepped to the podium and asked several questions:

“Mr. Supervisor, did you receive the letter from Mark Lewis?” Blank stare.

“Mrs. Conzelman, did you receive the letter from Mark Lewis?” She didn't even look at me.

“Mr. Edwards, did you receive the letter from Mark Lewis?” Blank stare.

I then turned my attention back to Mr. Price. I asked him if Mark Lewis served at the pleasure of the Supervisor. I got a blank stare in return. I asked Mr. Price if it would take a board vote to fire Mark Lewis. I got a blank stare in return. I know the answer to the question, I just wanted Mr. Price to answer it in front of our taxpayers, and he refused. Supervisor Price could fire Mark Lewis tomorrow for no reason at all. That is the answer. So I told Mr. Price, that if I was Mark Lewis, I'd be scared to death of removing Price's campaign signs, even though they violate the ordinance, knowing that Price could fire me immediately for doing so.

I finished by telling Mr. Price, Mr. Edwards, and Mrs. Conzelman that in my opinion, none of them have any honor. I said that, because it's true. They have no honor. They consider the rules for other people, not themselves. They consider themselves above the rules, and to me, that is not an honorable trait.

Here is the most telling moment of the night for me. When I sat down, a lady who was most likely attending her very first Board of Trustees meeting, leaned over and asked me, “Why won't they answer any of the questions people are asking?” I indicated to her that, “They can't answer them, because they are in the wrong. If they answered them, they would be admitting their guilt.” She just shook her head. She couldn't believe the way our community members were treated.

In the end, that is how it goes for almost all of our community members who attend their very first board meeting. They are stunned by the lack of respect shown to our community. They are stunned by the pettiness, and the bickering. They are stunned that you can go to this board with a question, and get nothing but a blank stare in response.

This is why I write what I write. I am attempting to shed light on a problem that has plagued this board for quite sometime. At first, people thought I was crazy. People called me a whackjob. Then some of those same people took up my challenge to go to a meeting and see for themselves. Suddenly, I was not so crazy. Suddenly more people took notice. Those who took notice, got angry, and that led to the resignation of former Supervisor Richard Reaume.

Well this led to the controversial appointment of a known political animal, Shannon Price. He moved from Canton, into Plymouth Township, and in the biggest carpet bag of all time, was appointed roughly 30 days later to the top job, over many longtime residents, and many more qualified candidates. This move was orchestrated by none other than Ron Edwards, in a move to keep his political power over the board.

I never thought I'd say this, but the new Supervisor is way worse than the previous one. A classic case of “beware what you ask for, because you just might get it.” While Mr. Reaume was very disrespectful to our community members that disagreed with him, he at least had some integrity with the taxpayers money.

Mr. Price is a different animal. He has come in and created jobs for his political allies, and he has funneled money to his political contributors from outside our township. That is why he is able to spend so much money on mailing political hit pieces against his opponent Kurt Heise. That is why he was able to spend so much money to put ads on TV, which in my experience has never been done in a Plymouth Township race. That is why his campaign was able to go to court to have Kurt Heise removed from the ballot on a stupid technicality. The money for that lawsuit came from outside of our township, from the very same political allies that he is funneling your tax dollars to.

You have a decision to make. Is this what you want for your community? Is this your idea of ethical leadership? Please understand that if you receive a political attack ad against the challengers in this race, it's probably a fabrication, or an outright lie. The only attack ads that are ending up in your mailbox are from incumbents. Ask yourself why? Is it because they do not have a good record to run on? Usually that is the case. If you see all of these Price, Edwards, and Conzelman election signs littering every street corner, they are illegally placed. Ask yourself if you want to support the people who knowingly broke the rules, or look at the record of their challenger, and consider them for your vote? Finally, if you have a question or concern that you want to ask at a board meeting, it won't get answered. You'll be ignored. Ask yourself, would I treat someone this way? Why are they? What are they hiding?

I have watched these people for years. Their behavior is shameful, and it has got to end. We deserve better. We deserve leaders who will serve us, not themselves. We deserve leaders who take the oath of office seriously. We deserve leaders who treat everybody with respect and dignity, not just those who agree with them. When we have a question, we deserve an answer, not the silent treatment.

Only you can make that happen. Vote wisely...