Judge won’t stand in way of layoffs of firefighters. Volunteers say they’re done. Trustee says, don’t worry, West Lafayette will cover us. What next in Wabash Township?
I attended this meeting last night too...my first township meeting ever...even though I am a resident of Tippecanoe Township. After following Ron Wilkin's reports in the Journal & Courier for the past 6+ months, as well as Dave Bangert's views on this ongoing saga, I wanted to see the players and hear their views.
There was a lot to learn!
The Trustee defends herself by claiming a lack of buy-in from the firefighters and community for her fire district plan. However, she fails to mention the fact that she was provided an extremely detailed action plan and timeline from a consultant hired by the Township, to instruct her on exactly how to get this done. If you have ever visited her Linked-In profile, you will see a very slim resume with no expertise in governance, management...or human resources. Lacking expertise, she truly needed the plan provided by that consultant. That timeline began last October, with the window of opportunity closing in April. There are a lot of participants in the process, including the state and county. Teising got started in March of this year, 5 months late, finally informing firefighters at the end of that month. There was no way to get all the steps done because she made it impossible, then had the gall to blame the firefighters and community.
Funds were already in place to pay the firefighters who were ejected last night, as confirmed the three board members who had made the allocation. They were fired without cause. It is unbelievable that she would now criticize the fire department about endangering the community and breaking their promise to the residents of the Township when this entire affair is a direct result of her negligence, bile and downright incompetence.
The firefighters now lack the structure to safely respond to fire runs on their own. They explained and emphasized the safety concerns last night. Wabash Township fire department was founded years ago by our old friend Jon Amy, a man of great renown and integrity from the Chemistry Department at Purdue. The seeds he planted grew into the wonderful fire facility that I saw last night. I am glad Jon is not here to see this mess. It would have broken his heart.
There were a lot of reports of Jennifer Teising's duplicity, downright dishonesty and petulant behavior. The fire department is not the only example of her failure to perform. She is not paying the bills. She is ignoring calls from constituents with valid reasons to seek Township assistance. As documented in the J&C, she is ignoring the coroner. She is obligated, under State statute, to provide documentation to the Township Board, but has been ignoring them for many months now. It is high time for the State of Indiana to audit this rotten apple.
She has managed to pull off one neat trick. Wabash Township pays the bills for the attorney who defended her in Judge Persin's court. Wow!
Keep going (State Senator) Ron Alting! Pitch in (State Representatives) Chris Campbell and Sheila Klinker to change State Law!! Every position needs oversight and accountability.
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" and never was there a clearer case than this one.
Read what Ron Wilkins and Dave Bangert have to say, but go to one of these public meetings on your own. This is grassroots democracy, the real deal. The people of Wabash Township elected the wrong person and are paying dearly for that error....but they are feisty and fighting back. In the battle between an elephant and ants, the ants will eventually win when there are enough committed to the fight. I am going to their go-fund-me website next to help them: https://gofund.me/73b6ee62
I attended this meeting last night too...my first township meeting ever...even though I am a resident of Tippecanoe Township. After following Ron Wilkin's reports in the Journal & Courier for the past 6+ months, as well as Dave Bangert's views on this ongoing saga, I wanted to see the players and hear their views.
There was a lot to learn!
The Trustee defends herself by claiming a lack of buy-in from the firefighters and community for her fire district plan. However, she fails to mention the fact that she was provided an extremely detailed action plan and timeline from a consultant hired by the Township, to instruct her on exactly how to get this done. If you have ever visited her Linked-In profile, you will see a very slim resume with no expertise in governance, management...or human resources. Lacking expertise, she truly needed the plan provided by that consultant. That timeline began last October, with the window of opportunity closing in April. There are a lot of participants in the process, including the state and county. Teising got started in March of this year, 5 months late, finally informing firefighters at the end of that month. There was no way to get all the steps done because she made it impossible, then had the gall to blame the firefighters and community.
Funds were already in place to pay the firefighters who were ejected last night, as confirmed the three board members who had made the allocation. They were fired without cause. It is unbelievable that she would now criticize the fire department about endangering the community and breaking their promise to the residents of the Township when this entire affair is a direct result of her negligence, bile and downright incompetence.
The firefighters now lack the structure to safely respond to fire runs on their own. They explained and emphasized the safety concerns last night. Wabash Township fire department was founded years ago by our old friend Jon Amy, a man of great renown and integrity from the Chemistry Department at Purdue. The seeds he planted grew into the wonderful fire facility that I saw last night. I am glad Jon is not here to see this mess. It would have broken his heart.
There were a lot of reports of Jennifer Teising's duplicity, downright dishonesty and petulant behavior. The fire department is not the only example of her failure to perform. She is not paying the bills. She is ignoring calls from constituents with valid reasons to seek Township assistance. As documented in the J&C, she is ignoring the coroner. She is obligated, under State statute, to provide documentation to the Township Board, but has been ignoring them for many months now. It is high time for the State of Indiana to audit this rotten apple.
She has managed to pull off one neat trick. Wabash Township pays the bills for the attorney who defended her in Judge Persin's court. Wow!
Keep going (State Senator) Ron Alting! Pitch in (State Representatives) Chris Campbell and Sheila Klinker to change State Law!! Every position needs oversight and accountability.
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" and never was there a clearer case than this one.
Read what Ron Wilkins and Dave Bangert have to say, but go to one of these public meetings on your own. This is grassroots democracy, the real deal. The people of Wabash Township elected the wrong person and are paying dearly for that error....but they are feisty and fighting back. In the battle between an elephant and ants, the ants will eventually win when there are enough committed to the fight. I am going to their go-fund-me website next to help them: https://gofund.me/73b6ee62
Love your writing, but was somewhat dismayed by grammatical errors, as I was raised by a language professor.