Dear Editor:
The Jefferson Township Mayor, Administration and Council have a problem with the definition of ‘transparency’. They state on their agenda that their meetings are following Robert’s Rules of Order, but they are not. According to Robert’s Rules of Order, meeting minutes are to be approved at the next regular meeting. Yet this Administration and Council seem to pick and choose which meeting minutes will appear on an agenda and when. Why?
Our Mayor and Council President, claim that they are the most transparent Administration ever! Yet my husband and I constantly, for the past few years, keep having to ask during the Public Comment section where previous meeting minutes are and why they aren’t approved for months and sometimes even until the next year. We’ve even had new Council members have to abstain from approving minutes because the meetings took place before they took office.
At the last Council meeting on April 8, 2026, the 10/15/25 and 10/29/25 meeting minutes were finally approved. However, 10/1/25, 12/3/25, 12/17/25, 2/11/26, 2/17/26, 3/25/26 meeting minutes have NOT YET been approved. This is absolutely not the definition of being transparent!
Not approving meeting minutes in a timely, transparent manner, goes against Robert’s Rules of Order and even OUR OWN Town Code § 70-12 Minutes.
Town Code § 70-12 Minutes. “Minutes of every regular or special meeting shall be kept and shall include the names of the persons appearing and addressing the Board and of the persons appearing by attorney, the action taken by the Board, the findings, if any, made by it and reasons therefor. The minutes shall thereafter be made available for public inspection during normal business hours at the office of the Township Clerk. Any interested party shall have the right to compel production of the minutes for use as evidence in any legal proceeding concerning the subject matter of such minutes. Such interested party may be charged a fee for reproduction of the minutes for his use as provided for in the rules of the Board.”
Then there is the issue of Council Executive Session meeting minutes. By State law, once the business that was the reason for the Council to enter into Executive Session is complete, the minutes of those meetings are to be made Public. After two recent OPRA requests requesting Minutes of Executive Meetings for the years of 2023 through 2025, the responses received have resulted in being told that there are no minutes. How can this be when the agendas for the last few years clearly show the Council going into Executive Session and why they did?
To me, we have an example of malfeasance.
Donna Vander Ploeg
