Mail arrives at township buildings every day, and often includes supply catalogs, state municipal publications, correspondence from law firms and even the various pieces of junk mail all of us receive.

But how should a township handle an unsigned letter? Does that depend on its contents? Should any and all mail addressed by supervisors be reviewed by them? Or should the township secretary decide what to keep, and what to shred?In recent months in Schuylkill Township, residents have debated the question. First, at a public meeting in June, someone left a stack of letters on a table at the front of the room, alongside the stacks of agendas and copies of last month's minutes. Many attendees picked up the letter, which was not signed.That letter was titled "An Open Letter to the Citizens of Schuylkill Township" and signed, "A Concerned Citizen." The letter was critical of Supervisor Chuck Fayash, who won his council seat by one vote in November.Since then, anonymous letters have been sent addressed to "Schuylkill Township Supervisors." Secretary Mary Bubel described the contents of the letters as "disgusting" and since they aren't signed, she has been shredding them.During last week's meeting, township solicitor Mike Greek said that shredding the letters was the best course of action. If the letters were accepted, they would become public record and a citizen could request a copy under the Right to Know Act, he said."You're talking about an anonymous, insulting letter that has no merit. It serves no purpose," Greek said. "If a letter contains a threat, then it can be turned over to the proper authorities."According to Second Class Township code, the township secretary takes care of the day-to-day business of the township. The extent of the secretary's responsibility can vary from municipality to municipality; it can be as restrictive or broad as the governing body determines.In other words, a township secretary can be directed to shred unsigned letters as part of the business of the township.During last week's meeting, Fayash made a motion that letters that mentioned a supervisor be given to that supervisor, or shared among the supervisors. But no one seconded his motion, and it died for lack of a second.How do other townships handle it?What to do with an unsigned letter may depend on its content, and also how the secretary has been directed to handle it. In Walker Township, where the secretary position is part-time, roadmaster Chad Felty is often responsible for checking the mail. He distributes it to the supervisor's and secretary's mail boxes.Walker Township resident Randy Bensinger, who is a member of the township's Planning Commission, said he'd want a copy of any letter that mentioned him, whether or not it was derogatory."If somebody is saying something bad about me, I'd want to know," Bensinger said after the Walker Township meeting last week. "I think they (Schuylkill Township) should make copies of each letter, and each supervisor should be able to read it and decide how it should be handled."In Rush Township, Chairman Shawn Gilbert said that the majority of letters are signed. If the township started to receive letters which contained slanderous comments directed at one or all supervisors, he felt they should be shredded if they weren't signed."If somebody doesn't have the guts to sign a letter, then I don't know if it should go anywhere," Gilbert said. "Then we would be the ones who accomplished what the person didn't have the guts to do; we'd be the ones to make it public."Gilbert's comments echoed what Schuylkill Township Chairman Charles Hosler said during last week's meeting."We destroy it," Hosler said. "And it doesn't go any farther."In Coaldale, secretary Andrea Davis copies every piece of mail the borough receives and each supervisor gets a copy. Signed or unsigned, she reads the correspondence, but how the correspondence is acted upon is up to the supervisors."Just because a letter is anonymous doesn't mean it's a problem, because sometimes we get anonymous letters complaining about the length of somebody's grass or something like that," Davis said. "It's not my decision. Whatever it is, everybody gets a copy, and it's up to them to decide what to do with it."