From Mike Stein:
I do not have (and do not want) a Facebook account, so I have asked my wife to post this on my behalf:
On Monday, August 5 the Paradise Township Supervisors met for their Regular Business Meeting. Among several agenda items was consideration of a request by Louise Troutman that the Township commit matching funds for a Paradise Heritage Land Trust (PHLT) grant application. I asked several questions, including the portion of land in Pocono Township (~30%), to which our Solicitor added that it was legally allowed for one township to purchase Open Space land for another. I asked who would legally own the land, to which Ms. Troutman answered she did not care if the Township owned it, but that members of her Board may insist that PHLT own the land. The PHLT Board had not considered or decided legal ownership. I voiced concern about buying land in Pocono Township with Paradise taxpayer money (especially since Pocono Township has a lower tax rate than Paradise because they do not have an Open Space tax, meaning we would subsidize their lower tax rate). Other Supervisors were troubled that we were not provided a written appraisal or survey of the property.
Paradise Township Board of Supervisors follow Robert's Rules of Order, as do almost all democratic government bodies and most corporate leadership meetings. Robert's Rules of Order have a clear and structured procedure for making decisions. A motion may be made by any member of a Board. If other members of the Board agree that the motion warrants discussion and a vote, they may second the motion. If at least two members of the Board do not feel the motion worthy of moving forward, no second is made and the motion dies without discussion. If a second is made, the motion moves forward to discussion and debate, and then a vote on approval is taken.
A second to the motion to commit Paradise Taxpayer funds to match the PHLT grant application was NOT made, and the motion died without discussion, debate or a vote. This is how Robert's Rules of Order works, and the rules the Board of Supervisors follow. Further, by my questions, my concerns with Ms. Troutman's proposal were apparent. Ms. Troutman was clearly disappointed and upset by this outcome. I understood her frustration and disappointment, but what came next was a surprise and deeply troubling to me.
The next day a one-sided description of the previous night's meeting with what I would characterize as a character assassination of me was posted on Facebook. Some of it was true, some misleading, some half-truths, some outright falsehoods. My personal email address was also posted without my permission with an invitation for the community to email and harass me. Members of the Facebook community immediately chimed in with their dismay over the Supervisor's actions, implications that I did not support the environment, the Supervisors weren't transparent or were even violating state law. From what I could see, there was very little if any fact checking. I have watched our country descend into emotional character assassinations, bullying, misleading half-truths and a lack of (and desperate need for) fact checking, often on social media. At our next Regular Business meeting, I was disparaged because my wife and I had "only" lived in Paradise Township for 12 years. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would see this polarizing behavior in Paradise.
This experience has been very disturbing and distressing to me and my family, who have felt harassed, demeaned, badgered and even violated by the public posting of my personal email address. My commitment to my family exceeds my strong commitment to public service. I have therefore made the difficult decision to resign my seat on the Paradise Township Board of Supervisors. I hope our residents will understand that I remain as committed as ever to the prosperity of our community, fiscal wisdom of the Township and our friendly and peaceful way of life. However the experience of the last few weeks have left me dismayed, disappointed and more than a little disillusioned. I know we can do better and ask everyone to support your elected officials, appointed committees and volunteers as we offer our time and efforts for the betterment of the community.