Public Portion of Shelby Trustees Meeting Heats Up

Accusations of bullying were lobbied back and forth between the public and public officials at Shelby Township's Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday night.

The board's regularly scheduled business was wrapped up in about 25 minutes, but dozens of residents spoke up during the open public comment session, which lasted for about 90 minutes.

About 40 residents attended the session, when on average fewer than a dozen people show up for township meetings.

Residents and board members volleyed over everything including recall efforts against public officials, various accusations of corruption and claims of political intimidation.

The boardroom was filled intermittently with clapping, shouting, talking out of turn and name-calling from the audience.

At the end of the session, Trustee Lisa Manzella said, “I didn’t know this was a forum for officials to fight the recall efforts against them.”

Manzella is one of several Shelby officials who have been facing recall efforts prompted by varying groups of residents and officials.

Other Shelby officials facing recall include Supervisor Richard Stathakis, Treasurer Paul Viar, Trustee Michael Flynn and Trustee Douglas Wozniak.

At one point in 2010, all seven board members were subjects of active recall efforts, including some on multiple occasions.

Stathakis gave each resident five minutes to make his or her comments to the board, which is customary at the meetings.

After one resident, Robert Denison, asked for more than five minutes to talk about what he says is wrongdoing by public officials, Stathakis denied him.

Denison threw his hands in the air and shouted, “You can handcuff me, chain me. I am going to tell the truth I am not going to be bought or sold.”

Stathakis worked during the meeting to keep order and asked for a recess when comments became heated. He asked the crowd that they not use public comments as a forum for campaigning, but to stick to township business. But he also said that it’s an open forum and he can’t stop them from having their five-minute say.