There was suppose to be an Oakland Township Board meeting on Tuesday November 1 at 2 PM to continue the discussion and make a decision on the Water Storage Location facility for the Southwest Water Region of Oakland Township. The meeting was posted and presumably had agreement from enough members of the Board to form a quorum prior to the meeting notice being posted. Unfortunately only 3 Board members showed up for the meeting. It takes 4 to form a quorum. There were about 25 residents present for the meeting. Since there was no quorum, it was not an official meeting, and hence no decision. Supervisor Abbate allowed the residents present to comment on the topic. The unofficial meeting was televised and is recorded.

After the meeting, Supervisor Abbate commented to the author that, earlier that morning, he had received messages from three of the four Board members who were not present, that they were not able to attend the meeting. All three messages came to him within about a three minute window.

Is it coincidence that all three determined that they could not attend the meeting at about the same time that morning? Is there collusion among the three that they would all not show up? Is there corruption in their motives to further delay this critical decision? OR is it just politics?

At the October 25th Board meeting, the Board was deadlocked in a 3 to 3 split on where to locate the storage facility. The November 1 meeting was scheduled in order to make a decision on the matter.

The timing for the meeting was critical because the parcel for one of the locations was part of a potential donation to the Township. That donation had a deadline for making a water storage facility location decision. That deadline has already passed, and a further delay could further jeopardize the donation of the parcel.

As a personal note, one of the Board members stopped by my house with his child during “Trick or Treat” the night before the scheduled meeting. He asked me if I was going to attend. He asked for my opinion on the issue, and I shared it with him. He gave no indication that he was not going to attend. He left me with the impression that he was planning on attending the meeting.

Yes, things happen that can force planned participation to change, but all three Board members making a decision within a few minutes of one another???

Why is this important to the Residents of Oakland Township?

This decision has already been delayed for too long. Holding Elected Official responsible for making INFORMED TIMELY decisions is OUR responsibility. It is THEIR responsibility to make those decisions. RUNNING AWAY from making the decisions demonstrates a lack of leadership. They are suppose to be our leaders. We need to hold them accountable. Our next election for Board positions is in 2024. Those who did not show up at the November 1 meeting are : Clerk Buxar, Treasurer Giannangeli, Trustees Zale and Elder.

Richard Michalski