At the April 8th Oakland Township Board meeting, Trustee McKay officially announced her resignation from the Board.  At the same meeting, Supervisor Gonser, with the help of Trustee Thalmann, attempted to push through a person to fill Trustee McKay’s position.  Trustee Thalmann made the motion to nominate Gonser’s recommended candidate.  Gonser seconded it.  The other Board members, as well as several citizens, did not believe that there was adequate publicity regarding the opening to make sure all interested candidates submitted their application.  Fortunately, the Board voted to delay any appointment for two weeks so more Township residents would be aware of the open position and submit applications.  Trustees Buxar, Bailey and Treasurer Langlois voted to defer any appointment for two weeks.  Trustee McKay abstained.

As stated above, at the April 8th Board meeting, Trustee McKay officially announced her resignation that would take place at the end of that meeting. She informally announced that she would be resigning two weeks earlier at the March 25th Board meeting.  Supervisor Gonser and Trustee Thalmann proceeded to nominate the only person that had submitted an application for that position (one other candidate withdrew his application).  The Board has 45 days after the formal resignation to fill the position before the County steps in and fills it.  Gonser’s nominee, Anthony Scaccia is a builder and a real estate agent.

Several citizens expressed their concerns over the lack of public knowledge about the open position.  Fortunately, all of the Board members, with the exception of Gonser and Thalmann, agreed that more time was necessary for, as one resident requested, a “clarion call” to be made to identify more potential candidates for the position.

During the discussion, Supervisor Gonser referred to the previous appointment of Trustee Buxar.  Even though there were nine candidates that had applied for that position, he said:

“No one else (besides Buxar) was vetted”

Robin Buxar appears to be doing a very good job as a Trustee, so there is not an issue with her.  However, by Gonser’s acknowledgment, it is clear that he will make his nomination based on his personal preferences not looking objectively at ALL the viable candidates.

Trustee Thalmann questioned whether the previous vacancy was published in the Rochester Post.  Both she and Gonser appeared to question whether posting it in the newspaper was/is appropriate.  This from the two Board members that continue to bring up the transparency the current Board has put in place.

Here is a video of the Board proceedings on this matter:

Why is this important to the citizens of Oakland Township?  Supervisor Gonser has the authority to nominate a candidate to fill the position.  The candidate must be approved by the full Board. The choice he makes can have a lasting impact on our Township.  He has stated that Planning Commission candidates must be familiar with the alleged United Nations “Agenda 21” conspiracy that is espoused by the Tea Party.  November 25 2012 Gonser email – Planning Commissioners should understand Agenda 21  Presumably he is using that as a litmus test for his Trustee appointment.  Due to the recent apparent ‘split’ in the Board, if Gonser has his way, he will add another person to ‘steamroll in’ his agenda in our Township.

The citizens of Oakland Township need to hold the entire Board accountable for selecting the most qualified person for this position. IF INTERESTED IN THE POSITION, PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR APPLICATION TO THE TOWNSHIP OFFICE.

Richard Michalski