To the editor:
On Monday, February 26, at the regular Hopewell Township Committee meeting, the Kuchinski-Blake administration has listed on the agenda 35 sets of meeting minutes for approval, which will permit public access to these documents.
These 35 sets of meeting minutes are from regular township committee meetings, special township committee meetings and executive/closed session township committee meetings that occurred from January 23, 2017 to January 8, 2018.
A state law, known as the Open Public Meetings Act, which promotes transparency in governmental affairs, requires that meeting minutes of public bodies “shall be promptly available to the public.”
On February 13 at the previous Hopewell Township Committee meeting, I publicly informed the township committee of what I saw as a clear violation of this law, which prevented the public from having these documents.
Seven working days later, at the next regular Hopewell Township Committee meeting after my public observation, the Kuchinski-Blake administration has listed the 35 sets of meeting minutes for approval.
Whether they were 35 sets of meeting minutes that were compiled in seven working days or 35 sets of meeting minutes that were stock-piled and held back, they were 35 sets of meeting minutes that were largely cherry-picked for approval.
The Kuchinski-Blake administration chose to leave the public in the dark regarding their closed door sessions that occurred after April 2017, while choosing instead to release more recent open sessions.
Now you know why the Kuchinski-Blake administration has been seen as the least transparent administration in many years.
Harvey Lester
Titusville