A township resident and former supervisor questioned Supervisor Cindy Miller’s decision to leave the board’s Jan. 5 reorganization meeting, calling the move inappropriate and disrespectful.

Keith Hantz, a past supervisor who attended the meeting, said Miller’s departure disrupted township business at a time when board attendance was already thin.

“At the organizational meeting on Jan. 5, I thought it was very inappropriate for a supervisor to just walk out of the meeting,” Hantz said. “Very disrespectful to the township.”

Hantz noted that Chairman Mike Jones was not in attendance and Supervisor Janet Sheats announced at the start of the meeting that she would need to leave early. While three supervisors would have remained to maintain a quorum, Hantz said that changed when Miller walked out partway through the meeting.

According to the meeting minutes, Supervisor Jerry Pritchard called the meeting to order. Sheats made motions to appoint Pritchard as temporary chairman and Alice Rehrig as temporary secretary; both passed unanimously.

Miller then made a motion to appoint herself as permanent chairman, but the motion died for lack of a second. Sheats subsequently moved to appoint Jones as chairman, with Supervisor David Hess seconding the motion for discussion.

During that discussion, Miller objected to Jones’ appointment, stating he missed about 25% of board meetings the previous year — six meetings — and participated by phone in another. She questioned why the board would appoint a chair who missed that many meetings.

Sheats responded that this was why the board has a vice chairman. Miller disagreed and reiterated her nomination of herself, saying she had reviewed attendance records and had only missed one meeting, while other board members missed several. Miller also criticized Jones for not attending the reorganization meeting, saying leadership absences were becoming commonplace and showed a lack of priority.

Pritchard defended Jones’ overall performance, saying he had done “a pretty good job” throughout the year. Miller again emphasized the missed meetings.

Sheats responded that if Miller were “nicer to people,” she might consider supporting the change. The board voted 3-1 to appoint Jones as chairman, with Miller voting no.

Miller also voted against the appointment of Pritchard as vice chairman and against reappointing Rehrig as township manager. She was the lone dissenting vote on several other appointments before leaving the meeting and was not present for the remainder of the proceedings.

Following Miller’s departure, the board continued with routine reorganization business, approving appointments to township boards and commissions, confirming township professionals and depositories, setting meeting schedules, approving employee holidays, and adopting Resolution 2025-1 appointing CPA David Kunsman to conduct the annual audit.

Appointments

• Justin Hoppes to the Zoning Hearing Board, five-year term.

• Suzanne Hawke, delegate to the Tax Collection Committee and Denise Schmall as the alternate.

• Rehrig, chief administrative officer for the pension plans.

• Hess, voting delegate to the State Convention.

• Keycodes, alternate building code official.

• Zoning Hearing Board solicitor Neil Ettinger at a rate of $130 per hour.

• Keystone Consulting Engineers as the interim sewage enforcement officer and place services to bid.

• Approved holidays for non-union employees, New Year’s Day, Presidents Day, Good Friday, Memorial Day, July Fourth, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and the day after, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

• Established regular monthly meetings: board of supervisors, second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m.; zoning hearing board, second Thursday of the month at 6 p.m., only when advertised; planning commission, second Monday of each month at 6 p.m.; recreation board, third Monday of each month at 7 p.m., five