Texas tables web site request again

Two people walked out of the Texas Township supervisors meeting Monday night, frustrated with the supervisors failure to act on repeated requests for a township website.

“Make a motion to table it or make a motion to do it. Don’t just sit there and act like we don’t exist,” said supporter Marty Erk, one of two men who eventually left. It wasn’t long after that supervisor Alan Wickle made a motion to table the issue until they could gather more information.

Georgette Pascotto, a strong supporter of the website, says it’s been nearly two years since the initial request, to place the agenda and minutes online.

When supervisors said there wasn’t enough public interest and that it would be too costly, Pascotto returned with cost estimates and a petition signed by 392 people. “That’s 99 percent of those people who were presented with the petition. That’s an enormous number,” Pascotto said. 
When Erie Street resident John Bartron asked how many people had attended Monday night’s meeting in support of the website, he counted 10, not including the two who’d left. “Out of 392 people in the township, it seems really strange that they’re that interested in the Internet, and only 10 people show up. That means there are 380 people out there that are either working or for some reason just too busy to come to the township meeting. I find that kind of hard to believe.”
Supervisor Jack McDonald said the township had received five letters from people who had signed the petition, but wanted their names removed. “The woman who brought the petition around misrepresented what she wanted put on the Internet. We were told she just wanted the date, time, and agenda of the meetings posted. Now we find she’s insisting on much more, which we feel will lead to much more cost to taxpayers in the future. We want our name removed.”
“Well, it’s interesting that it’s the same (form) letter signed by four people,” Pascotto said. She said she never misrepresented what she wanted on the Internet: the agenda and minutes.
“Could I ask you a question?” Supervisor Don Doney asked. “When you went around with this petition, how many people told you they didn’t have computers? Bet a lot of them told you that. Nobody told you that?”

“No,” Pascotto said. “I didn’t ask them that.”

Farmer Andy Weist said, “I know how many registered voters there is in the township (1,467 registered voters as of October 16, 2009, as per the Wayne County Bureau of Elections) and it’s definitely a lot more than people probably in this room can even think about. My main concern with the township is that you guys are doing your job. In which I applaud you all, ‘cause you are.
“The other thing, people don’t realize, you’ve got your house and your 1/2 an acre, acre, or whatever you’ve got. Me, as a farmer, that has to own lots of land to operate, pay these taxes. And somewhere you have to draw the line, whether it comes to saving $500, $200. Somebody’s got to get paid to put this on there (to update the website.) And I know there’s a legal issue. I know it for a fact, because I’m involved in some organizations that had some stuff on the Internet and were held financially accountable for what was there. So, I beg you to proceed with caution,” Weist said.

Pascotto brought up an earlier comment by Supervisor Doney concerning Honesdale Borough. Doney said he’d spoken to former council members who said Honesdale Borough did have a website in past, but it was taken down. A call placed to Honesdale Borough Secretary/ Treasurer Pat Seipp found they do not currently, nor have they ever had a website. Seipp has been secretary for over 21 years.

Pascotto said Damascus Township has had a website for eight years, and their Internet cost is only $35 per year.

 Resident Carol Santos said they should form a committee or committee chair and a complete policy and procedure for something new being proposed. “When you get all of that done, bring it to the table, then the people can see what you’re doing. But this every meeting, going back and forth on: he said, she said, I think, you did, I didn’t — this has got to stop.”