Greenwood pays bills; adjourns regular meeting—will wait until it can seat Beihoffer before conducting business again

TUESDAY, APRIL 10 2018 — The Greenwood Town board of Supervisors opened its regular meeting, Tuesday, April 10, 2018 with the traditional recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. John Bassing was still sitting in Supervisor Seat 5 even though the April 6 recount of the March 13 election confirmed that Byron Beihoffer won that seat, with 154 votes over Rick Stoehr’s 148. Bassing was the unsuccessful challenger for Supervisor Seat 3, which is still held by Larry Tahija following the recount.

John Bassing moved to add the upcoming 4th of July spaghetti feed to the meeting agenda and the township’s 40th anniversary celebration to the agenda. The motion was supported by Supervisor Larry Tahija and quickly passed 5-0.

Township Treasurer presented the board with the March Treasurer’s report. The beginning bank balance in March was $747,819 and the township’s March end balance is $721,834.21. Receipts from tax forfeited land apportionment, town hall deposits, interest and contributions (a bequest) totaled: $2,635. A motion to approve the treasurer’s report without any dissent.

The minutes of the March 22 reorganization meeting were reviewed and approved with the unanimous vote of the board.

The board also unanimously approved paying $9,863.39 in claims against the township, including election judge wages, as presented by Greenwood Township Clerk Sue Drobac.

Town Board of Supervisors Chairman Mike Ralston then addressed the township in the first public statement made by anyone on the town board since the two requests to recount ballots in two different supervisors race were received by the township. “By rule, the two candidates who made the request had legal rights to call for the recount. It was imperative that the township to make sure is was done justly,” Ralston said. The delays in accomplishing the recount were understandable and that it was important that the township get it done right, he said.

Ralston explained that following the recount that there was still 10 days to contest the election and that because the township did not receive notice that Bassing would presently exit his seat the township must wait until Wednesday, April 18 to see if he will contest the election before Beihoffer can be seated on the board of supervisors..

“Under advice of counsel  I move to adjourn this meeting until 6;30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 18,” Chairman Ralston said.  Support was quickly garnered from the board. Bassing objected saying that there are still matters the board could act upon. The board investigated if any matters on its agenda needed to be completed on a deadline, and assuring themselves that there were none, voted 4-1 to adjourn the meeting. Bassing provided the dissenting vote, prompting Ralston to ask the clerk to petition each supervisor in a roll call vote. That vote also remained the same, 4-1.

CORRECTION

I was incorrect last week when I reported that the Greenwood Town Board of Supervisors adjourned its meeting until this week. Town Board Chairman Mike Ralston moved to continue the meeting at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 18. His motion received support and garnered a 4-1 vote in favor of the motion.  John Bassing cast the lone dissenting vote against the motion. By voting to continue the meeting the town board is able to reconvein the meeting utilizing the existing agenda and avoids the need to post the meeting as a special meeting.

I sincerely regret my error and appreciate Chairman Ralston’s bringing my mistake to my attention.

— Tony Sikora