CAMBY — Madison Township resident Rick Harrison received an apology of sorts after Thursday night’s Madison Township board meeting.
Harrison was the person escorted by law enforcement out of a township meeting earlier this year.
The apology came from board chairman Angela Turley after Thursday’s meeting was over.
Harrison, however, said the apology should have come from the board member who had him removed, Amy Russell.
It was an end to a meeting that had several people, both board members and the public, at odds over the proposed 2021 township budget.
The total township budget for next year is around $2,073,000 which — according to township trustee Scott McDonough — is about the same amount for 2020.
According to township clerk Kelly Alcala, the money in the accounts was moved around, but the total amount stayed the same.
The meeting Thursday night was the public hearing on the proposed budget.
It did not go well.
Lack of advertisement
Board member Larry Ellis said he felt there could be more cuts made to the budget. He felt the township had too much budgeted for legal expenses. He asked McDonough about getting copies of the township’s legal expenses for this year and last year.
Alcala said she had already given the copies to Ellis’ wife and she hoped his wife would share them with Ellis.
Turley said the board would be making decisions on cuts to the budget at its next meeting.
There was also a brief discussion on the 2021 salary ordinance.
McDonough said the board will have to decide on raises when it approves a salary ordinance later this year. Ellis said he felt that since the fire department did not get raises, the officials should not either.
Ellis’ wife, Trudy, wanted to know why the budget had not been published in the newspaper.
She said she tried to find it on the state’s Gateway website, and was unsuccessful.
That sparked a long discussion on the changes to state law on advertising budgets, which is no longer required, and questions of when the clerk submitted the budget to the state.
One person in the audience was able to find the budget under “Budget notices” on the state website.
Alcala said she waited before posting the budget because the township was working on it up to the last minute to make sure it had accurate budget figures for the year.
After the budget discussion was done, Larry Ellis said he wanted to discuss the meeting that Harrison was ejected from.
He said said people were still talking about it and he wanted answers as to why Harrison was removed. He said it put a “bad light on the board,” and the board members “need to resolve it.”
Trudy Ellis said there was a recording of the meeting and, according to her, Harrison is not heard saying anything bad to the board.
“He as the freedom of speech,” Trudy said.
She said there was no record at the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office on the incident.
Larry Ellis said everyone he had talked to told him they never heard Harrison say anything bad.
During a break in the discussion, Turley made a motion to adjourn the meeting.
It was seconded by Russell with the vote ending 2-1 with Ellis voting against.
As everybody got up to leave, Turley looked at Harrison and said “I apologize for it.”
The Madison Township Board will meet again to approve the 2021 budget at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 22, the fire station located at 7047 E. Landersdale Rd., Camby.
~ By Keith Rhoades | Reporter | Published October 5, 2020 in The Reporter Times