To the Editor:
Here we go again.
On Monday, June 3, at the regular Hopewell Township Committee meeting, Mayor McLaughlin and her majority of Democrats once again introduced a township ordinance without reaching out to affected stakeholders beforehand.
Sound familiar?
This time, the affected stakeholders were 105 residential users of the Washington Crossing Estates Water Utility. By paying graduated water rates, these residents pay for 100% of the costs of their community well at no cost to the township, which owns the utility.
This time, Mayor McLaughlin and her majority of Democrats, with Republican John Hart in opposition, voted to start the process to put the 105 residential water utility users into significant debt with a $332,000 bond ordinance without any prior community outreach whatsoever.
Before that, on March 25, Mayor McLaughlin and her majority of Democrats placed on their agenda a township ordinance to slam some 9,000 residential electrical users into Energy Aggregation without any prior community outreach whatsoever.
Before that, the majority of Democrats passed ordinances designed to make dramatic changes to the Diverty Road neighborhood without any prior community outreach whatsoever.
Before that, they signed Affordable Housing contracts pertaining to the largest development in the history of Hopewell Township by allowing 3,534 residences to be built in the next eight years without any prior community outreach whatsoever.
Seeing a pattern here?
Apparently, the basic concept of representative government is simply beyond the understanding of Mayor McLaughlin and her majority of Democrats.
Harvey Lester
Titusville