"Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell." - Edward Abbey
Why was the board forced to meet? To approve paying the monthly bills.
But, you say, we've got an expensive Township Manager!? Can't he just pay the bills? Why does the Board have to meet in the center of a Coronavirus cyclone, blow off everything bu the pretense of the social distancing recommended, just to pay some bills?
This is because of the longtime shenanigans of Trustees Otto and Chick. They micromanage the Township Manager.
Since the position of Township Manager was established six years ago the Board has withheld the authority the Manager would have required to approve paying bills. For over six years this Township has paid over $125,000/year for a Manager who can write only small checks. $125,000/year has grown to over $150,000 per year, about $20,000 per year per employee actually under the Township Manager's management.
Watching the meeting with the LiveAgenda is the quickest way. What's not obvious from the LiveAgenda is that I left in about six minutes of prelude to the Call to Order. Click the Call to order, then scrub left. Aynes, Beliger's husband, Taylor, and the boardmembers are blithely wandering the Boardroom, unaware of the danger, chatting.
3/17/2020 Northfield Township Board meeting LiveAgenda
>> A Brief Video about Disinfection and EPA Labels <<
>> The CDC List of Disinfectants EPA Labeled/Approved for Use
Against the Human Coronavirus, Last Update 3/19/2020<<
The day before this meeting I voiced some concerns to the Township Board and Manager.
These emails were sent to Manager Aynes, Chief Wagner, Supervisor Chockley, Treasurer Zelenock, Clerk Manley, and Trustees Otto, Chick, Dockett, and Beliger. Copies went to Assistant Manager Carlisle
Email 1 Monday, March 16, 2020 4:23 PM
Will Attorney Fink be attending? If so, he'll be fresh off a plane from his Mexico vacation. He mentioned the vacation at the 2/25 meeting to explain why he wouldn't be attending the 3/3 meeting. Hopefully he enjoyed the sun and the language but through no fault of his own, he passed through the squeeze points where travellers are concentrated in airports and customs, where they unknowingly share contagions.
These four sets of headphones are grabbed on a first come, first serve basis. No one knows who used them before, who touched them before, who wiped their nose with their hands before putting them on or taking them off. No one knows how long it's been since their last use or more importantly, whether if the virus lives, dies, or is somehow sustained on the headphone's polymer surfaces. They will require rigorous disinfection between uses. That's the Township's responsibility.
Multiply this necessity by every square inch of surface in the Board room, the table of meeting agendas outside the Boardroom, the doorways, doors, and door handles, the stairway bannisters, the lobby chairs where you force people to wait for closed sessions to end. Literally anything people can touch on their way in or out of a public meeting, be it large as a door or as small as an elevator button, must be treated as potentially lethal. All those surfaces are the Township's responsibility.
Please make this warning and caution part of the official Township record.
Township Response 1 Tue, Mar 17, 2020 at 11:38 AM
We are evaluating further matters concerning the meeting including those raised by various citizens.
Steve Aynes
Northfield Township Manager
Township Response 2 Tuesday, March 17, 2020 9:31 AM
Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2020 9:31 AM
To: Jim Nelson; Steven Aynes; Marlene Chockley; Lenore Zelenock; Kathy Manley; Tawn Beliger; Wayne Dockett; Janet Chick; Jacqueline Otto; William Wagner
Subject: RE: Perilous Times: A couple of points re the 3/17/2020 Board meetings
This has all been discussed and addressed in our office.
I spent quite a long time Friday disinfecting the upstairs. I used chlorox wipes on the banisters, lights switches, pop machine, elevators, water fountains, door handles, table tops, chair arms and backs (in the lobby and in the board room), keyboards, microphone stands, head sets (although I only saw two so I will have to go back up and look for the other two). Then I used Lysol Spray on all the fabric chairs, microphones mouth pieces, toilets, sinks, audience chairs. Faye disinfected on Saturday also. There has not been anyone else up there since. The upstairs tenants are closed for at least two weeks.
The Board of Review members are having their final meeting today and I will again go up and sanitize after they are done. Then I will be rearranging the board room so as to promote social distancing.
Steve has been speaking with the attorney to figure out the plan of action since there is a pending settlement that needs discussion.
Thanks,
Jennifer Carlisle
Assistant to Township Manager
734-449-2880 ext. 18
Township Response 3 Tue, Mar 17, 2:42 PM
Mar 17, 2020, 2:42 PM (4 days ago)
to Jennifer, me, Steven, Marlene, Lenore, Kathy, Tawn, Wayne, Janet, Jacqueline, William
Thank you for all your hard work Jennifer. So sorry it fell on you!
Janet
Email 2 Tue, Mar 17, 4:12 PM
The Township is making the claim that every surface has been disinfected and will be again disinfected following today's Board of Review.
In her own words, Ms. Carlisle devoted "quite a long time friday disinfecting" with help from "Faye disinfecting on Saturday also." The exact amount of time expended is vague and unbracketed.
That doesn't meet much of a standard of proof that every accessible surface was wetted and remained wet with an EPA labeled - for COVID-19 - disinfection, for the EPA label required amount of time.
Waftings of clorox wipes and lysol misted at upholstery fabrics may impress the usual "it's good enough" constituency. But it won't impress a tort lawyer's consulting engineers. It won't impress a Coroner.
They'll calculate the surface area of every touchable thing in the room, the room's ingress, egress, restrooms, everything. The volume of available liquid disinfectant in the wipes and its evaporation rate will tell them how long a surface wetted by a wipe will remain wet. Thin films evaporate in seconds, not the minutes of wetting typically EPA label required for Coronavirus. Did Carlisle hold the wipe stationary over each square inch of "disinfected" surface for the necessary amount of time? If so, how did she finish "disinfecting" everything in that room in part of a day?
Ms Carlisle performed the "disinfection" in a finite amount of time liberated from her usual administrative staff duties. You need to document the time she alloted to the task and the amount of EPA labeled disinfectant used. You own this claim.
Whether it was even possible in that amount of time for every surface to be wetted for the EPA label required amount of time can be precisely calculated. Frankly, given the multitudes of chairs and tables in and around the Boardroom, it hardly seems plausible.
I looked at the lysol wipes under my sink. 10 seconds to "sanitize" but 4 minutes wetting is required to disinfect.
Business as usual won't cut it. Good intentions aren't good enough. This could mean someone's life and death.
Township Manager Aynes contacted me by voice phone. He asked me to handle the video. He said there had been a power outage and everything had been scrambled, whatever that means.
Email 3 Mar 17, 2020, 5:24 PM
Jim Nelson <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Tue, Mar 17, 5:24 PM (4 days ago)
to Steven, chickj, beligert, chockleym, ottoj, dockettw, zelenockl, manleyk
The dance of death has begun.
Officials have announced that 22 people at a Chicago Nursing Home have tested positive for Coronavirus.
How'd we get to this point? How did this happen?
One short sighted and selfish,
- "but i've got reservations,"
- "the appointments are so hard to get,"
- "I've been waiting all year for this cruise,
- "the tickets were so expensive,"
- "it can't happen here,"
- "I've got it so I'm gonna fly home where,"
- "this meeting was so important,"
- "but that city is four hours away,"
rationalization at a time.
Board Response 5 Date: March 20, 2020 at 3:25:50 PM EDT
Township Office Temporarily Closed
The Northfield Township Office will be CLOSED through Friday, March 27, 2020. Staff will be working from home whenever possible with limited access to voicemail and e-mail.