Category Archives: Board split?

Township Board selects Frank Ferriolo to replace Trustee Thalmann

At the May 26, 2015 Oakland Township Board meeting, the Board selected a new Trustee to replace Maureen Thalmann who resigned on April 14, 2015. The new Trustee is Frank Ferriolo. Frank was selected from a group of seven individuals who submitted their names for consideration for the vacant position. Due to the short amount of time remaining in the term of office, there will be no vote by the public on Frank’s appointment, unlike the previous two replacement Trustee positions – Robin Buxar and John Ginangelli. The vote to approve Frank was 5 to 1. Supervisor Gonser was the sole dissenting vote.

The selection of Frank Ferriolo for the vacant position was met with support from a number of citizens who attended the meeting. Frank has been a very active member of the community through his involvement in many Township meetings and other volunteer activities. One citizen, expressed concern over his appointment because he was a good friend of Trustee Robin Buxar. This individual, as well as Supervisor Gonser, was opposed to Frank’s appointment because Frank was opposed to the Blossom Ridge Senior Development and felt his appointment could negatively influence the Federal Court’s ruling in the lawsuit on that matter. 5 of the 6 Board members made favorable comments about Frank Ferriolo and ultimately voted to have him fill the vacant seat.

The seven individuals who submitted their names for the position include:

Dominic Abbate

Ronald Baitinger

Frank Ferriolo

Mark Orstein

Kevin Peacock

George Platz

John Vreed

At the May 12, 2015 Board meeting, six of the seven candidates were given an opportunity to comment on their desire to become a Trustee. Frank Ferriolo was out of country and submitted a letter explaining his reasons for why he wanted to be considered for the position. Supervisor Gonser would not allow his entire letter to be read. Fortunately, a motion was made by Treasurer Langlois requesting that the entire letter be read into the record by Township Manager Warren Brown. That motion passed 5 to 1 – Gonser being the dissenting vote. Attached is a copy of Frank’s letter. In his letter, Ferriolo included critical comments about the Supervisor’s leadership. It appears Gonser did not want to give the content of that letter visibility.

FRANK FERRIOLO BOT letter

Here is a video of the May 12 proceedings:

Frank made a short speech after being voted into office, and made a plea to the other candidates and citizens to get involved in the Township governance processes.

At the end of the meeting, Frank Ferriolo approached the Board to shake their hands. The exchange between Gonser and Ferriolo is noteworthy. Here are the comments made by both individuals:

Ferriolo – “I will support you!”

Gonser – “No you won’t!”

Ferriolo – “Yes I will!”

Gonser – “I know better!”

Here is a video of Ferriolo’s comments and the exchange a the end of the meeting:

Link to Oakland Press article on Mr. Ferriolo’s appointment

Why is this important to the citizens of Oakland Township? The selection of Frank Ferriolo as Trustee demonstrates that the current Board values the contributions he has made through his participation in many meetings and events in our Township. Frank has commented several times that the political process is like “making sausage” – not pretty, but the results, if based on facts and thoughtful consideration, desirable. The author of this post does not always agree with Frank, but always felt that his rationale approach contributed to helping the Board, or Commissions, make good decisions. Frank will be a valuable contribution to the Board.

Gonser’s comments at the end of the meeting also give insight into his definition of “support”. It appears that you MUST agree with him in order to “support” him. I believe Ferriolo’s comments were intended to indicate that he will support the Supervisor in providing good governance in our Township. Clearly, Gonser does not see it that way.

The behavior of our Supervisor, in his attempt at preventing Frank’s letter from being read at the May 12th meeting, is yet another example of why Supervisor Gonser must be replaced in 2016.

Richard Michalski

Gonser Alone. At the Helm?

2 Replies

4/15/15

Last night at the Board of Trustees meeting we saw evidence that Supervisor Gonser’s role has been reduced to one of backbencher. Two years ago he took office with a newly elected (with the exception of the re-elected Mike Baily & former Trustee Sharon McKay) Board who voted in lock step with him. Last night, in every vote that was in any way controversial, the Board voted 5 to 1 against him.

During the meeting, the Supervisor announced the resignation of Trustee Maureen Thalmann who had continued to side with Gonser on many votes in the past. Several personal and family illness reasons for her resignation were offered. It should be mentioned that one month ago she was named as one of the subjects of an investigation into the sharing of confidential, attorney-client privileged documents with un-authorized persons.

For Gonser, it was all downhill from there. Prior to most of the votes, he spoke his opinion emphatically, even passionately to no avail. No-one supported him. From my point of view it seemed that most of the disagreements were not substantial but rather manufactured by either Gonser or one of the Board to insure a 5-1 split.

Here are the highlights:

The resignation of Trustee Thalmann was accepted unanimously;
A proposed change to the rules of order to require a Request for Action Summary sheet for any agenda item was rejected 5 to 1 against with board members arguing that it was an unnecessary restriction and the Supervisor arguing that it would improve communication and order in their meetings;
A request to appoint a subcommittee to review the Zoning Ordinance to determine if changes are necessary to bring it into compliance with changes to State Law was argued at length. Mr. Gonser wanted to have the study pertain to the zoning ordinance that is currently effect in effect which was written in 1976. He wanted to ignore the proposed updated zoning ordinance that was prepared by the Planning Commission and submitted to the Board of Trustees for approval in 2010 but has never been acted upon. Mr. Gonser pointed out that the proposed ordinance was vehemently opposed by himself and some others who were elected to the Board in 2012. The Township Attorney informed Supervisor Gonser that State law requires that the Planning Commission has the sole responsibility to propose changes to the Zoning Ordinance and the Board must, at this time, direct their study and comments to the 2010 proposed version submitted by the Planning Commission. During the ensuing half hour Gonser repeatedly argued that State Law could be ignored and was repeatedly corrected by the attorney. A modified plan to have the Township Attorney and the Township Planner do the study was approved 5 to 1 with Gonser voting No.
A request to raise the wages of paid-on-call firefighters and EMS was approved unanimously.
A request to pay monthly incentive bonuses of $50 or $100 to paid-on-call Fire Dept. employees when they responded to more than 20% or 40% of calls respectively was argued at length. Trustee Buxar proposed that the incentives be adopted for a 5 month trial period so that it could be reviewed and perhaps adjusted to improve its effectiveness. The motion was passed 5-1 with Gonser objecting only to the trial period feature.
The Board addressed the results of the investigation into accusations that made during a previous Board meeting that one or more Board members and/or Parks Commissioners shared privileged attorney-client and closed session meeting documents with unauthorized persons. The Board approved the scheduling of a meeting with the Parks Commission to jointly respond to the attorneys’ findings. The vote was 5-1 with Gonser objecting. Note: When the accusations were made at a previous Trustees meeting Supervisor Gonser was mentioned as a person who may have improperly received one or more of the documents in question.

This meeting solidifies an important, positive change in the leadership of our Board of Trustees. Also very important is that the new vacancy on the Board is an opportunity for citizens to come forward and offer to serve the community.

Jim Foulkrod

Oakland Township hires new Township Manager/Superintendent

Were Supervisor Gonser and Trustee Thalmann’s negative votes a violation of their oath of office?

3 Replies

One of the agenda items for the January 13, 2015 Oakland Township Board meeting was a proposal, by Supervisor Gonser, to have Oakland Township go to a ‘Strong Supervisor’ form of government in 2016. Although he had it on the published agenda, he removed the item at the beginning of the meeting.

During a discussion the Board had regarding Gonser’s unilateral decision to approve the surveying of parkland in Oakland Township for a potential gas main, the ‘Strong Supervisor’ concept came up. The result of those discussions was the ‘one – two’ punch to Gonser previously reported on this website.

Supervisor Gonser and Trustee Thalmann were the only two Board members who voted against reaffirming Ordinance 97, which defines the responsibilities of the Township Manager. When the Board was sworn into office, they swore to uphold our Ordinances.

The following video contains excerpts of the discussions that occurred at that meeting. It is about 6 minutes long, but well worth watching if you want to understand the positions of several of our Board members.

Link to January 12, 2015 Oakland Press article

Why is this important to the citizens of Oakland Township? Gonser placing the ‘Strong Supervisor’ issue on the agenda, then pulling it off, and his statement in the January 12th Oakland Press article, appear to have been an attempt at sabotaging the Board’s efforts to find a qualified Township Manager.

As you probably know, interviews for our Township manager position occurred on January 24th. Uncertainty regarding the potential longevity of the Township Manager position could reduce the qualified candidate pool. Fortunately, the Board members, with the exception of Trustee Thalmann, wanted nothing to do with that uncertainty. Treasurer Langlois, Clerk Reilly, Trustees Buxar and Bailey took very strong positions regarding Gonser’s proposal. Trustee Giannangeli, who has been a strong supporter of Gonser to this point, made it very clear that he wants Gonser to operate in conformance with Ordinance 97.

Ordinance 97 is the Township Ordinance that defines the responsibilities of our Township Manager. It is an ordinance that the Board has sworn to uphold. By their statements, it is clear that the majority of the Board members feel that the Supervisor is not conforming to the Ordinance, hence the resolution to reaffirm the responsibilities of the Manager not the Supervisor. Gonser and Thalmann voted to not to support the resolution that would reaffirm that Ordinance.

In my mind, Gonser’s many unilateral unauthorized decisions and actions without Board agreement (violating Ordinance 97), and Gonser and Thalmann’s negative vote on that resolution are violations of their oath of office.

If they do not want to conform to, and enforce, the existing Township Ordinances that they have sworn to uphold, they should resign.

Richard Michalski

Gonser accuses other Board members of Open Meeting Act violation

11 Replies

At the January 13, 2014 BOT meeting, Supervisor Gonser made an unsubstantiated accusation that four of the Board members met outside a public meeting discussing a Resolution that was being proposed. If this occurred, it would have been a violation of the Open Meetings Act.

Gonser’s accusation was made after a motion to reaffirm Ordinance 97 (which defines the authority of our Township Superintendent/ Manager). His accusation was part of a very emotional 4 minute statement when he apparently felt he was being accused of inappropriate actions.

Three of the Board members immediately challenged Gonser’s statement, and indicated that they had never met as Gonser had stated.

As previously reported on this website, the Board did take two actions to restrain Gonser’s actions to what he statutorily possesses. They want to ensure that the Supervisor does not perform duties outside his authorized responsibilities. Gonser and Thalmann have made multiple attempts at expanding his authority by having the Township governance changed to a “Strong Supervisor” structure.

Here is a video of Gonser’s statement and the Board member’s response:

Why is this important to the citizens of Oakland Township? Gonser’s public unsupported accusation that other Board members have violated the Open Meetings Act is highly inappropriate and significant. Given that he has made that accusation, our Township Attorney should determine if Gonser’s accusation can be supported. If not, Gonser may have violated the Township’s ‘Conflict of Interest and Code of Ethics Policy’, as well as the ‘Board approved Principles of Township Governance Excellence’.

As one resident has recently stated, he believes Gonser’s actions have now escalated to the point of ‘malfeasance’. The Board needs to hold Gonser accountable for his statement by either asking for the supporting data for his accusation, or demand a retraction of his accusation.

Gonser’s lashing out at fellow Board members, former Trustee Judy Keyes, disregarding our township attorney’s assessment, and lashing out at the accuracy of this website appear to be occurring because he is frustrated that he cannot get what he wants.

Mr. Gonser needs to understand that our Township is governed by a Strong Board through majority rule!

Richard Michalski

Supervisor Gonser attempts to defend his lie in Rochester Post article

1 Reply

At the January 13, 2015 Oakland Township Board meeting, one of the agenda items was a discussion about the decision and authority to cancel the televising of the September 29, 2014 Board meeting(s). It has previously been reported that Supervisor Gonser had cancelled the taping and televising of the meetings. In those meetings, our former Township Manager, Ann Capela had first been fired, and later allowed to quit. Many of the Board members did not agree with Gonser’s decision to cancel the taping of the meeting based on the resultant lack of transparency to our citizens. They also questioned his authority to have made that decision.

When confronted with the facts about the cancellation, Supervisor Gonser acknowledged that he did call CMNtv to cancel the televising of the meetings, but then attempted to justify that decision by saying he was trying to protect Ann Capela reputation. He made no apology for making the decision nor for lying to the Press. In the September 29th meeting, both he and Trustee Thalmann were the only two Board members to not support firing Ann Capela.

The author of this post confronted Gonser in the meeting by saying that his rationale for not televising the meeting was NOT justification for lying to the Press when he said:

“It (the special meeting) was posted late on the website Sunday afternoon. There was no time to get the meeting televised.”

Here are the key video portions of this meeting regarding this issue:

Why is this important to the citizens of Oakland Townhip? Most of the citizens of Oakland Township do not accept or condone Gonser’s lying in the Press (there was at least one citizen at the January 13 meeting who appeared to accept Gonser’s explanation).

This is not the first time that there has been documentation that our Supervisor has lied to the public. One previous example was reported on this website where Gonser stated he had sent a letter requesting an opinion from our State Attorney General “as an individual”. The letter he referred to was written 8 days AFTER he made that public statement.

Gonser’s lack of understanding that his rationale for making the decision is not justification for lying to the Press. This is proof that his value system is based on “the end justifies the means”.

Gonser appears to subscribe to Machiavellian and Nixonian principles.

This post is one of several that support the actions taken by our Township Board at the January 13th meeting to try to stop Gonser’s many unauthorized decisions.

Richard Michalski

Supervisor Gonser Plots a Vote to Grant Supervisor Strong Supervisor Powers

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Supervisor Terry Gonser has put an item on the Jan 13 Board of Trustees meeting agenda that calls for an expensive special election to be held in May 2015 simply to ask voters to grant the elected Supervisor position the powers and duties of a strong supervisor for Oakland Township. The current Board of Trustees, elected in 2012, who, early on, supported Terry Gonser’s leadership have, more recently, repeatedly rebuffed his attempts to assume the duties now assigned to the Township’s professional full-time manager. Gonser’s current responsibilities are limited to:

chairing the Board of Trustee meetings;
signing some documents that legally require the signature of the elected Supervisor
some ceremonial roles in community events.

Under our current Township Structure the hired Professional Township Manager (or Superintendent) has full authority to manage the day to day operation of the Township within the guidelines established by the entire Board.

Gonser, despite the legal limitations of his elected position, has professed to spending 50-60 hours/week doing his “job” at the Township Hall interfering in the business and work of professional staff and management. Oakland Township, under Gonser has experienced unprecedented turnover of personnel, lawsuits and legal expenses. His penchant for taking unilateral actions without authorization by the Board has been well documented on this site. These, among other problems, are why his formerly loyal Board of Trustees have voted against allowing him to take on any additional responsibilities.

Here are some of our previous posts about Gonser’s multiple attempts to officially expand his power:

Supervisor Gonser and Trustee Thalmann attempt (once again) to have a “Strong Supervisor” structure in Oakland Township – October 2014

Trustees reject Supervisor Gonser’s desire to become a “Strong Supervisor” – November 2013

Can we trust Supervisor Gonser with more authority? – November 2013

There are many recent examples of Gonser’s actions that are reasons for the Oakland Township Board not approving Gonser’s request. Those actions can be read by scrolling through the many previous posts in the “Supervisor Gonser” category on the right side of this web page.

The best reason for not centralizing all that authority in one elected official was summarized by one citizen’s comments:

“There would be great difficulty dismissing a ‘rogue’ supervisor!”

Please come to the January 13th Board of Trustees meeting and voice your opinion about whether Oakland Township should change its governmental structure and stop being managed by a professional full-time Superintendent.

Jim Foulkrod

Supervisor Gonser thwarts promised transparency in Oakland Township and makes false statement to Rochester Post

3 Replies

As previously posted on this website, our former Township Manager, Ann Capela, resigned after the September 29, 2014 Special Board meeting. Neither the Special meeting nor the Budget Workshop (that had been scheduled to be televised and taped) were televised or taped (or even audio recorded). It has been determined that Supervisor Gonser was the one who made the decision to CANCEL the video taping and televising of this very important meeting, contrary to his statement in the Press that there was “no time to get the meeting televised’ .

A Board discussion of this cancellation is on the agenda for the January 13, 2014 Board meeting.

Here are the details:

A 6 PM televised Oakland Township Board Budget Workshop had been planned and scheduled for September 29, 2014.
A day or two before the meeting, several Board members determined that they wanted to have a special meeting (that would include a closed hearing, at the request of Ann Capela) to:

” consider a periodic personnel evaluation of a public officer, employee, staff member, or individual agent”

The official posting of the special 5:30 PM meeting met the timing requirements for notification to the public.
Based on documents obtained through the FOIA process, here are the records of communications that took place the day of the meetings:

At 2:15 PM on September 29th, Supervisor Gonser made a 4 minute call to the CMNtv Executive Director. (CNMtv is responsible for taping and televising our Township meetings at the direction of the Township.)

At 2:20 PM on September 29th, Jamie Moore, a member of the Township staff, sent an email to the CMNtv Executive Director stating, “Terry said you were looking for the agenda for tonight.” She attached the link to the agenda for the 5:30 meeting.

At 2:31 PM the Executive Director responded to Jamie’s email and acknowledged receipt of the email.

At 2:59 PM Supervisor Gonser made a 2 minute call to the CMNtv Executive Director.

The two meetings scheduled for that day were neither taped or televised, even though the Budget Workshop had previously been scheduled for being taped and televised.

As reported in the minutes of the two meetings, Ann Capela’s contract had been terminated during the open portion of the Special meeting, but during the ‘Old Business’ portion of the Budget Workshop meeting, her ‘termination’ was revised to accept her ‘resignation’.

Supervisor Gonser and Trustee Thalmann were the only two Board members who voted against Ann Capela’s termination. The later vote to accept her resignation was unanimously approved.

In the October 9, 2014 Rochester Post, Supervisor Gonser is quoted as saying,

“It (the special meeting) was posted late on the website Sunday afternoon. There was no time to get the meeting televised.”

At the October 14, 2104 BOT meeting, Treasurer Langlois, stated that Gonser’s statement was inaccurate. She said:

“So, in fact, not having a video tape of the meeting was not due to a lack of time, but apparently due to an earlier administrative decision.”

At the November 17, 2014 BOT meeting, she went on to say:

“We (the Board) discovered, after the fact, that a decision was made to cancel the video taping of the meeting.”

Here is the video of Treasurer Langlois’ comments:

Why is this important to the citizens of Oakland Township? The Township is suppose to be managed by our hired Township Manager (under the leadership of our Board). Other than the election of our officials, there is probably no more important decision that affects our Township. Yet, Supervisor Gonser, who ran on improving ‘transparency’ in our Township made the decision to not televise or record this very important meeting.

Supervisor Gonser has claimed the decision to televise meetings is consistent with his campaign promise to improve transparency. However, his unilateral decision to cancel the televising of this very significant meeting, and then stating in the Press that “there was not time to get the meeting televised” is another clear example of his character and real feelings about transparency.

His decision to not record or televise this meeting reminds me of the statement he made in a previous meeting where he said “Process is everything”. This is yet another example of Gonser’s ‘selective’ use of processes aimed at accomplishing his own hidden agendas.

So much for transparency and ethics under our current Supervisor!

Richard Michalski

Supervisor Gonser thinks Oakland Township’s form of government is “bizarre” and unworkable

5 Replies

On November 11, 2014 the Oakland Press posted an article that reported on the current employment status of Oakland Township’s former manager, Ann Capela. As reported previously, she agreed to terminate her employment as Oakland Township’s manager on September 29, 2014. In the Oakland Press article, Supervisor Gonser indicated that he agreed with the former manager’s assessment that the political structure in Oakland Township is ‘unworkable’. Gonser went on to say that it is a ‘bizarre’ form of government.

At the November 11, 2014 Oakland Township Board meeting, the Board voted to authorize a consulting firm to initiate a Township Manager search to replace Ann Capela. The motion was approved in a 6 to 1 vote. Supervisor Gonser was the sole dissenting vote.

Here are some of the highlights of the Oakland Press article:

Ann Capela, our former manager, was hired by the city of Bethel, Alaska.

Regarding her September 29th agreement to terminate her contract as Oakland Township Manager, Capela stated:

“(Oakland Township has) a challenging political structure that soon became unworkable.”

The article states that Terry Gonser, the current Township Supervisor, agreed with her assessment.

He went on to say:

“We have a bizarre, unique form of government.”

Commenting on Ann Capela’s new assignment, he stated:

“She won’t be subjected to so much micromanagement.”

“She won’t be pulled in different directions.”

Trustee Thalmann, who voted to retain Capela, also supported the Supervisor’s opinion regarding the Township’s form of governance.

Here is a link to the Oakland Press article:

Former Manager: Oakland Townships structure ‘unworkable’

Why is this important to the citizens of Oakland Township? Oakland Township has had the current structure since the early 1990’s. There were no issues raised under the previous three Supervisors (Buser-Hoffman-Fogler) with the current form of government.

Supervisor Gonser, as well as Trustee Thalmann, continue to want to change the structure to one with a “Strong Supervisor”. There have been several previous articles posted on this website regarding Gonser’s attempt to change the Township structure. Here are those articles:

Supervisor Gonser and Trustee Thalmann attempt (once again) to have a “Strong Supervisor” structure in Oakland Township

Trustee’s reject Supervisor Gonser’s desire to become a ‘Stong Supervisor’

Can we Trust Supervisor Gonser with more authority

Gonser and Thalmann have recently been in the ‘minority position’ on a number of Board decisions. This could be a contributing reason for their desire to have Gonser become a ‘Strong Supervisor’. He would then be able to make Township operational decisions without the consent of the entire Board.

The current political structure allows a trained professional Manager or Superintendent to manage the Township with direction from the Board. Having the operational decisions made by an untrained political elected official would not only dilute the authority of the Board, but would result in chaos and confusion in our Township after each Board election. It would highly politicize the day to day operation of our Township.

Supervisor Gonser has indicated that he spends 50 hours per week on Township business. His position is suppose to be a part time position. His presence at the Township Hall most likely caused the micromanagement that Capela complained about. The Treasurer and Clerk probably had to spend additional time at the Township Hall making sure Gonser did not give direction on items impacting their departments – probably contributing to Capela being pulled in different directions.

Fortunately, the current Board has consistently objected to changing the political structure of our Township. I hope that continues! Their decision to approve the search for a replacement for Ann Capela is a good start.

Richard Michalski

Supervisor Gonser and Trustee Thalmann attempt (once again) to have a “Strong Supervisor” structure in Oakland Township

4 Replies

The October 9, 2014 Rochester Post had an article about the termination of the former Oakland Township manager’s contract. In that article, Supervisor Gonser made comments that indicate he wanted to reconsider Oakland Township’s governance structure. Last year, he lobbied for having a full time “strong supervisor” structure vs. the current system (a part time supervisor and a full time professional manager).

At the October 14th Board meeting, Trustee Thalmann indicated she wanted to revisit the “strong supervisor” proposal. She made this comment after Trustee Bailey made a motion to have our current assistant manager, Jamie Moore, temporarily fill that position until a new manager was selected. Gonser and Thalmann’s proposal was met with thoughtful objections from other Board members and citizens. After considerable debate, the Board approved the temporary position for Jamie Moore, and authorized a search for a full time manager.

In the October 9th Rochester Post article, Supervisor Gonser is quoted as saying:

“The Township Board will have to discuss hiring –or not hiring– a new Township manager”

In the article, he went on to argue that Oakland Township is in the minority of Townships since we have an elected part time Supervisor and a full time manager or superintendent.

At the October 14th Board meeting, Trustee Bailey made a motion to have the current Township assistant manager fill the manager position until a permanent full time manager is selected. He specifically included the designated statutory responsibilities “A through O” as part of her responsibilities. He stated that he felt it was inappropriate for the Supervisor to assume those responsibilities.

Trustee Thalmann challenged Bailey’s comment and indicated that she wanted the Board to revisit the “strong Supervisor” structure. She said:

“The Supervisor’s job is designed for all but 42 of the 1200-and-something charter townships in the state. I still hold the opinion that a ‘strong supervisor’ and a deputy perhaps is a better way to go.”

Trustee Bailey and Treasurer Langlois expressed strong objection to revisiting this issue. Bailey commented:

“We certainly debated that ‘ad infinitum’ and we concluded we do want to retain a township manager.”

Langlois commented:

“I like the idea of having a township manager that reports to the board.”

Several citizens expressed their objection to Thalmann’s proposal. Reg Brown challenged Gonser and Thalmann’s comparison to other communities by saying:

“The statement that a small number of the 1240 townships do this (a part time Supervisor and a full time professional manager rather than a full time strong Supervisor) is a faulty comparison. A great number of those townships have 200 to 300 people in them, so what does that have to do with what Oakland Township would do?”

Frank Ferriolo strongly objected to the proposal by stating:

“We spent 3 months last year going over, nitpicking if you will, this whole process of ‘strong supervisor’ vs. township manager having the “A through O” responsibilities. We concluded our best interest is that the current form that we have is a good form.

The other thing I found a little bit curious is that both Mr. Gonser and trustee Thalmann were the champions of a ‘strong supervisor’ without a township manager. Yet they were the only two that voted to keep the township manager (Capela) in the vote.

There would be great difficulty dismissing a ‘rogue’ supervisor and deputy.”

Gonser has previously stated that he spends over 50 hours per week in the Township Office, yet the Supervisor position is a part time position.

The Board ultimately voted on Bailey’s motion and approved it in a 6 to 1 vote. Thalmann was the only negative vote.

There was also an issue raised whether Gonser should be the one offering the temporary position to the assistant manager. After much discussion, the Board agreed to have Gonser extend the offer with the express statement that “the Board was making the offer”, not Gonser.

The Board voted on having Gonser extend the offer. It passed in a 6 to 1 vote. Thalmann was once again the exception.

Here is a video of the October 14th proceedings:

We should have seen this coming with Gonser’s post on Linkedin. The responsibilities he states exceeds his statutory responsibilities. The ENTIRE Board has those responsibilities and they delegated those to the Township Superintendant/ Manager – Jim Creech at that time.

Here is Gonser’s post to Linkedin:

Supervisor – Charter Township of Oakland, Oakland County, MI – (November 2012 to present)

Chief elected officer of the Township. Responsible for budgets, personnel, and all aspects of township government and Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Also a member of the Board of Directors of the tri-municipality Older Persons Commission.

Why is this important to the citizens of Oakland Township? The majority of the Board members are beginning to recognize and exercise their statutory responsibilities. They are no longer acting as the formal approvers of Gonser’s opinions and agendas. The Board, collectively, is more important than the supervisor. For their recent actions and votes, the citizens should be grateful.

The fact that Gonser admitted spending 50 hours per week, on what should be a part time position, is evidence that he is doing more than what he is authorized to do. In essence, he is managing the Township as a “Strong Supervisor”. Could that be why both he and Thalmann did not support terminating our former manager’s contract? Was he doing her work, and she was not opposed to him doing it?

Time will tell if the Board is able to ‘restrain’ the Supervisor from using his position in inappropriate manners. It looks like the majority of the Board is beginning to recognize the issue and hopefully will ensure their authority is not usurped by Gonser. The Board’s motion that explicitly states the Board is extending the temporary offer to the assistant manager clearly is intended to let the temporary manager know that she reports to the entire Board – not just the Supervisor.

Here are some related articles previously posted on this website:

Former article on “strong supervisor’ structure

Can we trust Supervisor Gonser with more authority

Richard Michalski

Oakland Township Watchers

Eyes on our new government

Category Archives: Board split?

Township Board selects Frank Ferriolo to replace Trustee Thalmann

Gonser Alone. At the Helm?

Oakland Township hires new Township Manager/Superintendent

Were Supervisor Gonser and Trustee Thalmann’s negative votes a violation of their oath of office?

Gonser accuses other Board members of Open Meeting Act violation

Supervisor Gonser attempts to defend his lie in Rochester Post article

Supervisor Gonser Plots a Vote to Grant Supervisor Strong Supervisor Powers

Supervisor Gonser thwarts promised transparency in Oakland Township and makes false statement to Rochester Post

Supervisor Gonser thinks Oakland Township’s form of government is “bizarre” and unworkable

Supervisor Gonser and Trustee Thalmann attempt (once again) to have a “Strong Supervisor” structure in Oakland Township