Trustee Arnold Casts Deciding Vote On Controversial Amphitheater Project

Another Plymouth Township Board of Trustees meeting, equaled another slap in the face to Plymouth Township taxpayers. It was an absolute sham. It was a block of four people who showed with every utterance their complete disdain for us taxpayers.

Richard Reaume, better known as King Richard, treated us like his subjects. The man, and I use that term loosely, banged his gavel as hard as he could on two separate occasions, and glared at us taxpayers repeatedly throughout the meeting.

King Richard seems to be of the mindset that the ferocity with which he bangs his gavel is somehow commensurate with his stature, power, and respect level. Let me disabuse him of that notion, it decreases your stature, and significantly decreases the respect folks have for you. You get treated by the taxpayers exactly how you treat them.

Somehow the man thinks that the size of his gavel is directly proportionate to the force with which he bangs it. Mr. Reaume? You’ve got a small gavel, so give it up. Give up the charade. Give up the charade of calling yourself a Supervisor. Your whole Board is a charade. Other townships and cities laugh at you. Heck, I hate to say it, but they laugh at us taxpayers who elected these three clowns as well, and that really stings. Clowns being Supervisor Reaume, Clerk Conzelman, and Treasurer Edwards.

While I am at it, this was the third Board of Trustees meeting in the last four, that King Richie ordered the police in for protection. This is another slap in the face to the good and decent people of Plymouth Township. Good grief! What’s next? Armored SWAT vehicles in the parking lot?

I remember the early days of covering this Board. I used to call him Dapper Rich. I called him that because he was always immaculately dressed. Expensive suit, fancy tie, the whole shebang. He was the man in control, and he never lost his composure. That train has left the station. Dapper Rich has left the building.

Dapper Rich was replaced by King Richard. A man prone to frequent outbursts, and banging his gosh awful gavel. He is going to break that thing one of these days, and the business end of that poor gavel is gonna fly out and hit somebody, which will put the taxpayers on the hook for yet another lawsuit. I hope it hits me. I can use the money. Maybe a better name for him would be Raging Richard. He certainly has been prone to sudden rages.

The second gavel incident, actually made me jump, as I had my head down writing notes when he did it. I’ll be honest, this ticked me off. It ticked a lot of people off. Nobody was really saying anything, and the man just comes unhinged, and starts banging his infernal gavel. Trustee Chuck Curmi immediately told him to cool it with the gavel. I didn’t hear his exact words, but the intent was obvious.

Alright, enough about Ragin Richie, and his shotgun gavel. Let’s get to the highlights/lowlights of this meeting.

It began with a full house, standing room only group of taxpayers. Trustee Doroshewitz, knowing why the room was filled, made a motion to move the Amphitheater resolution to the top of the agenda, so the folks could hear the decision, and go home at a decent hour if they chose.

In case you live in a cave, the Amphitheater project is very controversial. It will cost around $400,000 give or take, and pretty much everybody in the township thinks it is a ridiculous waste of money, for something that will create safety, traffic, and noise problems. I have yet to see somebody speak in favor of the amphitheater. Not in an email, not in a letter, not in any comments on my op-eds, and not at a meeting.

So Mr. Doroshewitz makes a simple motion, to move the issue to the top. Get it over with, and get folks on their way. You would think Ragin Richie would want his subjects gone. It’s obvious he hates us. It’s obvious he wishes he didn’t have to have us there to watch. So it just seems logical that the four horsemen on this board would be more than happy to get rid of us rabble. Nope.

By a vote of 4-3 the Board voted to keep us there till roughly 10:00 PM. Ragin Richie, Treasurer “Big Ron” Edwards, Clerk “Fancy Nancy” Conzelman, and the woman who could have been a hero tonight, Trustee Kay Arnold, voted to make us all wait.

This whole thing was going to come down to Kay Arnold’s vote. Trustee Mike Kelly had the guts to bring this issue up, and request that the Board postpone the amphitheater project until a survey could be done to gauge the taxpayers preferences on this matter. So when Kay Arnold voted to make folks wait, I knew right then that Kelly’s motion was going to fail.

Kay had a chance to be a hero. The whole darn Board had a chance to be heroes. They had a chance to quiet the vocal critics. Ragin Richie could have put his gavel away for awhile. Maybe reenforced it a bit. I am seriously not sitting in the front row anymore, lawsuit or no lawsuit.

They had a chance to be heroes, to do the right thing, but instead, they voted as a block, and squashed the will of the people. The Amphitheater project moves forward, and to hell with what the taxpayers want.

Trustee Kelly said that, “An Amphitheater is not in the park plan, and the construction season is over, so why not ask the taxpayers in the survey.”

Trustee Curmi said that, “We have no business plan for it, we don’t have any plan.”

Trustee Doroshewitz said that, “I have seen an outcry against this on a level not heard before.” He went on to indicate to Edwards that, “The survey was your idea, so let’s do your survey.” Edwards laughed at him when he said that, which I find very rude, and condescending.

Doroshewitz finished up his comments with something I thought was very important. He reminded the Board that, “We are up for a Police and Fire millage next year, and if we do this, don’t think that people are automatically going to vote in favor of that millage, if they are still angry with this decision.”

Trustee Doroshewitz was absolutely correct with that analysis. If you look at the voter turnout in the primary in Plymouth Township, it was higher than normal. Matt Edwards, who is Big Ron’s son, got his butt handed to him in his failed State Senate campaign. Oh sure, he was gonna get beat, make no mistake, but he didn’t just get beat, he got shellacked in Plymouth Township. It was a woodshed beatdown. His numbers weren’t much better in other areas, but they were better. He had better numbers in every other area than he did in Plymouth Township, where folks know the name Edwards. That should be a message to the rest of this Board.

When you willfully neglect the collective voice of the folks who elected you, you will soon be looking for another job. You may just get your Fire & Police millage defeated on your way out too. Yep, Doroshewitz was spot on.

Kay Arnold went on with a list of various projects that the township has done, but I can’t really quote her, as she tends to speak quietly, but I did hear her say that, “That’s why the people elect us.” A very unfortunate statement in my opinion.

Big Ron Edwards stated things like a parent would, when laying down the rules to a child. “We’re moving forward with this. We borrowed the money, and that’s where we are heading.” Edwards was not his usual maniacal self today Either he took his meds before the meeting, or he already knew he had Arnold in his pocket. Maybe both. He actually looked tired, like he didn’t get much sleep last night. Maybe he had a bad day or two at work, a lot of things on his mind. Who knows with this man.

Fancy Nancy Conzelman, in her Von Maur wardrobe, mumbled her statement with her mic off, so nobody could hear what she said. I had my ears cupped, and Mr. Curmi noticed and asked if anybody could hear her? We all said no, but she refused to give any further comment.

Ragin Richie was asked by the taxpayers to make a statement, and his first response was that he already had, and called for a vote. The good folks of Plymouth would not be denied, so he finally did what he always does. He obfuscated. He mumbled something about the EPA and DEQ (or whatever alphabet agency) testing results still being done, and said that “The amphitheater may still be put on hold permanently if the EPA testing is unfavorable.”

I found that statement funny, because I remember when he was in such a hurry to borrow the two million dollars at a hastily scheduled special meeting. He stated to a concerned taxpayer that we just need to vote on the money, but don’t worry, every project still has to be voted on individually. He likely got Kelly’s vote with that statement, and now look at the mess we are in. Remember one thing about this person. Reaume will say whatever he has to say to get what he wants to get. Truth be damned. I’ve caught him in a handful of lies in the last 4 years. Big lies. Not little fibs, but big fat lies.

Well, it’s 1:00 AM, and I am done with my rant for the day. The bottom line is that folks drove through some pretty heavy rain, and filled the board room to capacity. What did they get for their efforts? Four people on this Board treated these taxpayers like children being scolded. They acted like they knew better than anyone else in the room, and basically told us to eat our lima beans, shut up, and go to bed, or in our case home.

I’ll leave you folks with one last thought. A gentleman gave a public comment at the end of the meeting, and he asked the folks in attendance to raise their hand if they would vote for a recall. Every single hand shot up in the air. It was a sight to see. I’ve been involved in local politics for 25 years, and I have never seen anything like it.

Every single taxpayer in that room raised their hand. That my friends, is some serious anger...