On the agenda:
Public Comment begins at 3:06
New Business -
- Law Enforcement Ordinances begins at 7:39
- St. Matthews - Taking Steps Against Hunger Event begins at 14:26
- DDA Meeting Date Change begins at 21:05
- Clerk Dispatcher - Police - Job Description begins at 21:52
- Fire Chief Nelson - Fire Department Updates begins at 24:18
Board Member Comments begin at 29:45
© 2016 Carla Citizen All Rights Reserved
During the public comment period Mr. Larry Ford from the Birch Run/Bridgeport Chamber spoke about the upcoming "Best Of" Awards dinner to be held on February 17th. He spoke about some of the gifts that will be in the silent auction including two vacations in Myrtle Beach. They are still taking donations for the silent auction. It is a very nice event, the food is excellent, good company.
You can get information about the event and tickets on their event page:
Best Of Awards And Dinner Event Page
There was a discussion about Law Enforcement Ordinances. I am not quite clear at this time exactly what all this action will entail. They will only involve misdemeanors, not felonies. Now ordinances can be a good thing, often they are useful to take the place of common sense that seems to be lacking in modern society.... But what the Libertarian side of me hears in this discussion is the phrase "circumvent the prosecutor's office" and "the citation will work as the warrant". I am a big believer in the system of Checks and Balances. Don't even get me started about the lack of proper checks and balances in our federal and state level governments. To me it seems like taking a complaint to the prosecutors office first is a part of that checks and balances process. If they can take these complaints now directly to the courts, then it would seem that the only checks and balances will be at the court level. I had the experience once of sitting on a jury and after that I have very little faith in our court system and non what so ever in our jury system. My advice since that experience to anyone is to never have a trial by jury!
I understand what the township and the police department hope to achieve with this and am not really criticizing them for it. I can definitely see the need for more timely results/actions on cases! That Libertarian in me though just automatically bristles at the thought of any thing that could possibly take away a safe guard from abuse of power at any level of government. So the administration will work on this and then there will be a public notification about the matter and then there will be a public meeting held. Hopefully there will be some Bridgeport residents actually show up and give some feedback on the matter.
Jean Schluckebier from St. Matthew's Lutheran Church also spoke about the "Taking Steps Against Hunger" event that they held last year, which was a success. They will be holding the event again this year on Sunday September 25th, 2016. I am sure they can use community support like volunteers and donations. St. Matthew's Lutheran Church has a Facebook page and a website where they posted information about last years event and you can check there for updates when they post them for this years event.
St. Matthew's Lutheran Church - Facebook Page
St. Matthew's Lutheran Church - Website
The DDA Board meeting has been rescheduled for February 24th at 12 Noon at the Governmental Center.
They updated the job description for the police dispatcher position. The current dispatcher will be retiring this spring after 30 years.
Fire Chief Nelson also gave a update on the fire department and the new fire engine. I haven't seen the new truck in person yet but hope to have some time soon to check it out. They have some photos of the new truck on their Facebook page.
Bridgeport Fire Department - Facebook
And once again I will add that it is worth the time to listen to the board member comments at the end of the meeting!
Public Comment begins at 3:06
New Business -
- Law Enforcement Ordinances begins at 7:39
- St. Matthews - Taking Steps Against Hunger Event begins at 14:26
- DDA Meeting Date Change begins at 21:05
- Clerk Dispatcher - Police - Job Description begins at 21:52
- Fire Chief Nelson - Fire Department Updates begins at 24:18
Board Member Comments begin at 29:45
© 2016 Carla Citizen All Rights Reserved
During the public comment period Mr. Larry Ford from the Birch Run/Bridgeport Chamber spoke about the upcoming "Best Of" Awards dinner to be held on February 17th. He spoke about some of the gifts that will be in the silent auction including two vacations in Myrtle Beach. They are still taking donations for the silent auction. It is a very nice event, the food is excellent, good company.
You can get information about the event and tickets on their event page:
Best Of Awards And Dinner Event Page
There was a discussion about Law Enforcement Ordinances. I am not quite clear at this time exactly what all this action will entail. They will only involve misdemeanors, not felonies. Now ordinances can be a good thing, often they are useful to take the place of common sense that seems to be lacking in modern society.... But what the Libertarian side of me hears in this discussion is the phrase "circumvent the prosecutor's office" and "the citation will work as the warrant". I am a big believer in the system of Checks and Balances. Don't even get me started about the lack of proper checks and balances in our federal and state level governments. To me it seems like taking a complaint to the prosecutors office first is a part of that checks and balances process. If they can take these complaints now directly to the courts, then it would seem that the only checks and balances will be at the court level. I had the experience once of sitting on a jury and after that I have very little faith in our court system and non what so ever in our jury system. My advice since that experience to anyone is to never have a trial by jury!
I understand what the township and the police department hope to achieve with this and am not really criticizing them for it. I can definitely see the need for more timely results/actions on cases! That Libertarian in me though just automatically bristles at the thought of any thing that could possibly take away a safe guard from abuse of power at any level of government. So the administration will work on this and then there will be a public notification about the matter and then there will be a public meeting held. Hopefully there will be some Bridgeport residents actually show up and give some feedback on the matter.
Jean Schluckebier from St. Matthew's Lutheran Church also spoke about the "Taking Steps Against Hunger" event that they held last year, which was a success. They will be holding the event again this year on Sunday September 25th, 2016. I am sure they can use community support like volunteers and donations. St. Matthew's Lutheran Church has a Facebook page and a website where they posted information about last years event and you can check there for updates when they post them for this years event.
St. Matthew's Lutheran Church - Facebook Page
St. Matthew's Lutheran Church - Website
The DDA Board meeting has been rescheduled for February 24th at 12 Noon at the Governmental Center.
They updated the job description for the police dispatcher position. The current dispatcher will be retiring this spring after 30 years.
Fire Chief Nelson also gave a update on the fire department and the new fire engine. I haven't seen the new truck in person yet but hope to have some time soon to check it out. They have some photos of the new truck on their Facebook page.
Bridgeport Fire Department - Facebook
And once again I will add that it is worth the time to listen to the board member comments at the end of the meeting!
