Group to launch Texas Township Citizens’ Website
January 19, 2010
By Tammy Compton
Wayne Independent
TEXAS TOWNSHIP — A Texas Township Citizens’ Website will be coming soon.
A month after Texas Township supervisors declined to pursue a township website, a group of local residents say they’ll host their own.
In response, supervisors say they’ll be checking with the township solicitor to ensure that the township won’t be held liable should there be any misinformation online.
Reading from a prepared statement, resident Georgette Pascotto told the supervisors that failing to have a website was “short-sighted and unfair to many residents who can neither attend meetings nor afford copies of the minutes at 25 cents per page.”
Strongly in support of, and saying even the township’s planning commission advised proceeding with the “online resource,” Pascotto said they’d use their own finances to “establish a township website containing important items such as (approved) minutes, ordinances, names of officials, telephone numbers, meeting dates and time.”
Resident John Bartron said, “I think it’s fine if Georgette has a group or somebody that wants to put it on the net, but I think there should be a disclaimer in there, that this is in no way affiliated” with the township or published by the supervisors.
“If somebody makes a misprint putting it on the net ... and they get sued, they’re the ones that should carry the load, not the taxpayers of Texas Township,” Batron added.
Supervisor Don Doney, “While we’re on this subject, we get a magazine every month called The Township News. There’s an article in there this month that states ‘The Right to Know Law.’ There’s a lawsuit now about how the law applies to emails.”
A man in Montgomery County has filed a law suit against the supervisors, Doney said. “When a supervisor sends an email to another supervisor (not on the township’s computer) ... he wants access to all the supervisors’ emails. And it’s in the courts right now. That’s what that grew into down there,” Doney said.
“I’m not talking about emails, I never have been ...I’ve been talking about what is public record. You had people come here and say, ‘Look, I work two jobs, I can’t be here. Look, I have to help my kids with homework.’ You force them into a situation where, unless they’re here ...they can not be informed of what is happening. And I think that is very unfair,” Pascotto said.
“I can only say that we’re operating within the law,” Doney said.
“I know as long as I’ve sat here, and the boys, I don’t know of anything we’ve done that’s illegal. We might have and don’t know it ... I’ve been here a long time and I never seen any shaky stuff going on in this township,”said Chairman Jack McDonald.
“This is not about casting aspersions. This is about the public’s right to know,” Pascotto said.
“I’m 78 years old, I don’t know how we ever survived up here without this change,” McDonald said.
McDonald talked about how things used to be and how everything’s changed.
“Why do we have to change to accommodate everybody else? They moved here, we didn’t move there,” Batron said.
“Do we want to go back to kerosene lanterns?” asked Ed Thomas of Seelyville. “I’m fourth generation here in Texas Township. I didn’t move anywhere ... I’m still here. And I’m in favor of the Internet, and indoor plumbing and electrical service.”
Pascotto said, “Growth is around the world.”
Wayne Independent
TEXAS TOWNSHIP — A Texas Township Citizens’ Website will be coming soon.
A month after Texas Township supervisors declined to pursue a township website, a group of local residents say they’ll host their own.
In response, supervisors say they’ll be checking with the township solicitor to ensure that the township won’t be held liable should there be any misinformation online.
Reading from a prepared statement, resident Georgette Pascotto told the supervisors that failing to have a website was “short-sighted and unfair to many residents who can neither attend meetings nor afford copies of the minutes at 25 cents per page.”
Strongly in support of, and saying even the township’s planning commission advised proceeding with the “online resource,” Pascotto said they’d use their own finances to “establish a township website containing important items such as (approved) minutes, ordinances, names of officials, telephone numbers, meeting dates and time.”
Resident John Bartron said, “I think it’s fine if Georgette has a group or somebody that wants to put it on the net, but I think there should be a disclaimer in there, that this is in no way affiliated” with the township or published by the supervisors.
“If somebody makes a misprint putting it on the net ... and they get sued, they’re the ones that should carry the load, not the taxpayers of Texas Township,” Batron added.
Supervisor Don Doney, “While we’re on this subject, we get a magazine every month called The Township News. There’s an article in there this month that states ‘The Right to Know Law.’ There’s a lawsuit now about how the law applies to emails.”
A man in Montgomery County has filed a law suit against the supervisors, Doney said. “When a supervisor sends an email to another supervisor (not on the township’s computer) ... he wants access to all the supervisors’ emails. And it’s in the courts right now. That’s what that grew into down there,” Doney said.
“I’m not talking about emails, I never have been ...I’ve been talking about what is public record. You had people come here and say, ‘Look, I work two jobs, I can’t be here. Look, I have to help my kids with homework.’ You force them into a situation where, unless they’re here ...they can not be informed of what is happening. And I think that is very unfair,” Pascotto said.
“I can only say that we’re operating within the law,” Doney said.
“I know as long as I’ve sat here, and the boys, I don’t know of anything we’ve done that’s illegal. We might have and don’t know it ... I’ve been here a long time and I never seen any shaky stuff going on in this township,”said Chairman Jack McDonald.
“This is not about casting aspersions. This is about the public’s right to know,” Pascotto said.
“I’m 78 years old, I don’t know how we ever survived up here without this change,” McDonald said.
McDonald talked about how things used to be and how everything’s changed.
“Why do we have to change to accommodate everybody else? They moved here, we didn’t move there,” Batron said.
“Do we want to go back to kerosene lanterns?” asked Ed Thomas of Seelyville. “I’m fourth generation here in Texas Township. I didn’t move anywhere ... I’m still here. And I’m in favor of the Internet, and indoor plumbing and electrical service.”
Pascotto said, “Growth is around the world.”
