JAMES CITY — The Highland Township Home Rule government study commission has spoken to someone who has been through the entire process successfully, and got a lot of important questions answered.
Grant Township (Indiana County) Supervisor Stacy Long joined the Highland Township government study commission via phone to share her insight into the process and discuss her township’s Charter to give the Highland Township crew some ideas as to how to draft their own Charter and what to write into it.
Commissioner Misty Edinger asked Long whether or not the Grant Township government study commission had many problems getting people to attend their meeting. Long estimated 40 to 50 people routinely showed up at the Home Rule Charter meetings.
Long then asked Edinger if the Highland meetings are as well attended, to which Edinger said they were not. Only six people were in attendance at Thursday’s meeting. She said there are a lot of misunderstandings within Highland Township as to exactly what Home Rule is and what is intended to accomplish. Edinger asked Long how to correct the misunderstanding, but she did not have an answer.
“Most people still don’t understand it I don’t mind telling you,” Long said.
Long said Grant Township had two hearings on their Home Rule Charter. She said for the second meeting, they had their draft in hand ready to discuss with the township residents. Long said they went over each paragraph in simple terms so it was clear as to what they were voting on.
When asked as to whether or not their Charter caused adverse effects on taxpayers and landowners, Long replied: “absolutely not.” She acknowledged raising taxes could be an effect of having the Charter — if the township residents want a tax increase. However, Long did not seem to think the possibility of a tax increase coming from a Home Rule municipality to be likely.
“Who wants (a tax increase)?” Long asked rhetorically.
Bill Edinger asked Long about how the day-to-day operations changed within Grant Township after they adopted their Home Rule Charter last November. She said they really did not change much; they kept the Pennsylvania Second Class Township Code more or less intact, but added a couple of important things they felt the code lacked.
Long said Grant Township added a community Bill of Rights ordinance to its Charter, similar to the ordinance Highland Township currently has in place to inhibit injection wells to be placed within the township. They also gave the township residents the latitude to call a township meeting in case an issue arises prior to the next township meeting, she said.
Other than that, Grant Township retains three supervisors, a secretary-treasurer, and a road crew as outlined in the Second Class Township Code, Long said.
Bill Edinger said rumors were floating around James City which indicated the current township supervisors — Mike Detsch, Glen Hulings, and Jim Wolfe — would be booted from their seats and the study commission would then take over the operations of the township. However, he said those are rumors, and nothing could be further from the truth.
Long said rumors come with the territory, citing the alleged myth taxes would be raised once a Home Rule Charter would be passed.
“If we raise taxes, we’re raising taxes on our seven heads too” Long said, “It doesn’t make sense.”
However, Commissioner Matthew Vaughn raised an important question along the lines of the rumor Bill Edinger reported to Long, and asked point blank about writing a clause into the Charter regarding the impeachment of township supervisors.
Long said her government study commission looked into it. However, she said their advisor, Chad Nicholson of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) — who also serves in the same capacity for Highland Township — described impeachment as a slippery slope. She said Grant Township was told they could adopt it if they so desired, but could “make things sticky” if Highland was going to keep the majority of the Second Class Township Code.
Long said with the township residents being able to call meetings and vote on unpopular decisions made by township supervisors prior to the next election, Grant Township decided to scrap the idea of impeachment.
The full meeting can be seen on YouTube athttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHdN84dAxOI.
