In November, the people of Hopewell Township will decide at the ballot box whether our form of municipal government should be studied, and, if so, which 5 residents will conduct that study.
Five candidates, Christopher Pazdan, Joshua Wilson, Melanie Walter, Francis Guenther, and Grace Rarich, have not taken a public position on the issue. One can expect that they will keep an open mind if the voters decide to have a study.
The others that qualified to be on the ballot, Vanessa Sandom, Michael Markulec, Chad Goerner, Tamera Matteo and Stephen Klopfer are running as a group called “Chart New Course.” Surely, you remember the “Chart New Course” public positions from a few months ago. These are the folks that did not want a study of our township government because they already made up their minds: 1) that we should have new government; 2) with a figurehead mayor and weak council; and 3) power concentrated in an unelected township manager.
If elected as commissioners, does anyone really believe that the candidates identifying themselves with “Chart New Course” would keep an open mind? Of course not. For months, “Chart New Course” has been attacking our current form of municipal government. If elected as commissioners, would anyone be surprised when, not if, they conclude that the unelected township manager/figurehead mayor/weak council government is again selected by them to replace our tax-cutting current committee. Of course not.
Voting for any one of the “Chart New Course” candidates is a vote for a performance, not a legitimate study.
Harvey Lester
Titusville
Lester is a former Hopewell Township mayor
