Opinion: Some Candidates Are Not Prepared to Run Township

(Editor’s Note: OMP resident Marge Achorn has a question for some of the candidates running for office in Peninsula Township. ““How do you expect to run the township if you haven’t prepared yourself?” Read on for Marge’s thoughts. -jb)

I want to emphasize that the following points are my personal opinion and in no way are they to be construed to be an official position of the Township Board.

Hello fellow resident, taxpayer and voter. My name is Margaret Achorn (Marge). I am your Peninsula Township treasurer. Prior to my appointment to the position of treasurer, I held the dual position of your trustee (elected in 2016 and 2020) and also deputy treasurer.

First, I want to reassure you that it was both possible and advantageous for the township residents and taxpayers for me to serve in this dual role. Similarly, David Sanger’s service to this township as both trustee and part-time enforcement officer is a positive.

Why? You may ask. It is because first and foremost, the four trustees are charged with the fiduciary duties to hold the officers and staff accountable for the budget and their other statutory responsibilities, to recommend policy actions on the part of the Planning Commission in alignment with resident desires under the guidance of the Master Plan, and to thoughtfully evaluate projects that require board approval.

That fiduciary duty for each trustee carries over to any other township position the trustee may also take on to serve this township, be it paid or unpaid. The experience of serving as a township trustee in addition to other roles within the township provides valuable insights into how to improve service delivery to the residents.

Next, I would like to address the responses (or LACK OF RESPONSE) to the questionnaire completed by some of the candidates running for office. There is a naiveté that causes me to raise the question: “How have you prepared yourself to faithfully execute the duties of this position?”

In my case, I decided in 2012 that I could be of service to the township as treasurer based on some 40 years as a practicing CPA with experience at one of the largest CPA firms in the country, followed by a successful career running my tax practice. However, that was not enough. I did not know Peninsula Township.

Thus, in the following years, I proceeded to read every set of minutes available to me for all the boards, commissions, committees and sub-committees. I then attended their meetings and took part when allowed. I asked questions of the treasurer and clerk to learn about their duties; analyzed the annual audit reports in detail; viewed the township software provider’s website; volunteered in the community. In 2016, I felt that I was ready to run for elected office on the Township Board.

Once again I ask each candidate the question: “How have you prepared yourself to faithfully execute the duties of a position on the Town Board?” This is a position of public trust with fiduciary responsibilities to manage the affairs of the township for the best interests of the public.

Sadly, I have not seen evidence either in person or through their statements that some of the prospective newcomers to the board have pursued even a semblance of this baseline level of preparation. I am concerned about their ability to manage our municipal government given their lack of willingness to prepare themselves for the task at hand.

I ask those candidates, “How do you expect to run the township if you haven’t prepared yourself?”

Third, I ask the candidates, “Specifically, how do you propose to accomplish your generalized solutions?”

If additional volunteers are the solution, where have you been?

When a mountain of wood chips needed to be moved into the Bowers Harbor Park small playground area, where were you? Last fall, the Bowers Harbor Park community celebration needed volunteers to help with the festivities. Staff had to fill in because you didn’t. The parks committee is crying out for help to take care of the year round onsite daily maintenance needs in each of the township parks; new trees need watering; downed branches and trash need to be cleared from the trails.

Our township clerk, Becky Chown, has had to do the heavy lifting for the numerous grant proposals that were submitted (thank you also to Susie Shipman and Isaiah Wunsch). The need for help and the list of opportunities to volunteer your time and talents for your township is long. Thank you if you are a current volunteer. If not, where have you been? How do you expect to lead this township if you are not on the ground leading?

If additional funding will be needed for your list of solutions to the township’s problems, where is the funding to come from? Please contact me. I’d love to hear from you to discuss your ideas.

Someone suggested that WOMP contributions are the solution to fund the needs of the township parks. If so, why haven’t they come forward already to help?

Where is your contribution to help purchase the large playground equipment or toilet facilities at Bowers Harbor Park? Have you contributed to the nature trail at the Bowers Harbor Expansion, or the Hemlock Trail at Pelizzari Park, or to other many needs at our parks?

Excuses for not helping out in the past, while extolling boiler-plate platitudes, won’t solve the needs of this township going forward.

Fourth, with regard to the WOMP lawsuit against Peninsula Township taxpayers, I have to be careful because the Township Board is still under a gag order on what we are allowed to say.

Only Isaiah Wunsch and I have been on the Township Board during the entire timeline of this lawsuit. I did not take part in any of the unofficial meetings prior to the Covid shutdown. When the Township Board was finally allowed to meet that late summer, we received a special request from the wineries to help their businesses for a temporary moratorium on certain ordinance clauses to allow them to continue to conduct their business outdoors. After a back and forth, we asked them to draft the resolution they wanted us to pass. Based on that draft, the Township Board passed the resolution to help them through this critical period where many businesses had to close.

Only days later, the township was served with the WOMP lawsuit against the taxpayers of Peninsula Township. I looked at the dates on the document in disbelief. The WOMP attorney had been working on the lawsuit before the wineries came to us for help.

Even after that, the Township Board extended the temporary agreement through the following winter and spring to help our township businesses to survive.

There has been much speculation regarding the special Township Board meeting at St Joseph’s Catholic Church when we listened to comments and concerns of our residents and taxpayers. It is common knowledge that the Township Board went into closed session to vote on a settlement offer from WOMP. I carefully reviewed the offered settlement terms and evaluated the impact to our township residents and property owners. I voted NO because I had serious concerns that the offered terms had a detrimental impact on township life and governance going forward.

All documents were taken away from us after the vote. I can only recall portions of a few of the terms and those of us at that meeting are under a gag order not to disclose the details. The judge sanctioned the township because of our vote. I stand by my decision, based on my fiduciary responsibility to you, as being the correct one for the vast majority of our community and based on the policy preferences that you have expressed.

Over the years, various members of the Township Board have taken part in numerous required negotiations. Those who took part are still under the judge’s gag order, and even I am not aware of what transpired when I was not present.

Yet, some in the community seem to have knowledge of what has transpired. Has information been leaked into the public forum and professed as the “truth”? While the Township Board has vigorously defended the ordinance, WOMP has vigorously defended the gag order. If the deal that we supposedly passed up was so great, why is there the continued need for secrecy? Wouldn’t it behoove a reasonable party to make the process more transparent?

The public continues to ask the Townhip Board for details. I’d love to disclose all the details, but I can’t respond because the judge has imposed the gag order on the Township Board.

This Township Board has seriously taken its fiduciary duty to the residents and taxpayers of Peninsula Township in its decisions to protect this township against massive financial damages and protection from attacks on our Master Plan and uniform rules in our ordinances.

In conclusion, after reading the responses of those candidates who replied (some didn’t even bother) to the Old Mission Gazette questionnaire and comments on social media, I am truly concerned about the naiveté in the responses of those candidates new to township government. As a property owner and voter, I am fearful to place my fate or that of my property investments in those hands.

I want to personally thank and commend the township staff. They have performed their duties admirably in an environment of a dramatically increased workload with an understaffed office. Thank you also to the township’s commissions, boards, committees and volunteers who give countless hours on behalf of our township community.

After this election I will be retiring as your township treasurer. Rest assured that Katie Clark, my well-qualified and experienced deputy treasurer, has the knowledge, intelligence, and technical abilities to build on the current foundation in the treasurer’s office. She will be your strong advocate on the Township Board for years to come. Thank you for your trust and support of my efforts on your behalf over the years as trustee, deputy treasurer and treasurer.

Regardless of where you stand on the issues, I hope that you will carefully consider the qualifications, preparation, dedication, and motivations of the various candidates on the ballot in August and November.

–Marge Achorn

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Opinion: Responses from Kelly Clark, Candidate for Supervisor, Spark Concern