Bridgeport Spaulding School Board Meeting June 26th, 2019

Tonight's meeting was just for the Superintendent's evaluation.  They did the evaluation during a closed session.  The closed session lasted a little over 2 hours.  They come back into open session at 1:48 minutes into the video.  They then gave the results of the evaluation and voted to accept it.
I haven't been following the school board meetings and all the events of the school district for almost a year so I am a little out of touch; but from all I do hear and see it seems that Mr. Whelton is doing a good job and things seem to be running smoothly and moving forward for our district.

 

85 Days Later We Ask "Why"? They Ask "Why Not"?

85 days later and we are still asking why members of Bridgeport Township government would bring back a man, Lee Carpenter, that was recalled by the voters in 2011.  Are those government leaders just saying "Why Not"?  I believe it is arrogance by them that makes them think they can disregard the will of the voters in our township.
Definition of arrogance
: an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions 

In conversations I have had with others regarding the past and currents actions by members of our township government,  the answer always comes down to arrogance.  Arrogance back in 2010 by them that helped start the recalls.  Here are the reasons listed for the recall of then Township Supervisor Patrick Gilles:

"The recall petitions listing the following allegations: 
- An Oct. 6 vote by Gilles to adopt a resolution to impose a 2.5-mill assessment without allowing a public vote; 
- Gilles refusing to accept public petitions requesting the 2.5-mill assessment be put to voters; 
- a Nov. 3 vote by Gilles to end a public hearing on the 2.5-mill assessment before the public could speak; 
- a Nov. 5 vote by Gilles to approve a deficit spending budget for 2010; 
- and a Jan. 5 vote by Gilles to spend township money to sue the 14 people who circulated petitions requesting a public vote."

It was arrogance shown by the supervisor and other members of that board and township employees, some of whom are still present, that led to those kind of actions by the board.  Suing the township residents that filed petitions seeking to have a millage increase put up for public vote?   It was outrageous!!  Arrogance times 1000%.  Lee Carpenter was there for all of this, current supervisor Augie Tausend was there for all of this, township manager Rose Licht was there for all of this.  These people are all still in our government and obviously their arrogance is still there.  And has that arrogance rubbed off onto the new board members, or is it just their ignorance of the past that allowed them to vote, twice, to bring Lee Carpenter back into our government?

Arrogance that makes them think there was nothing wrong with anything they did back then, not with the millage, shutting down dissent, suing the residents, and lets not forget their actions regarding the land and the bridge restoration.
Arrogance that made Lee Carpenter and Patrick Gilles think they could run for re-election back then and actually win; thankfully they were both defeated.
Arrogance that makes them think there is nothing wrong now with bringing back a man the voters recalled.
Arrogance that makes them think they can bring back a man recalled by voters and not face consequences for that.
Arrogance that makes them think they are superior to the residents/voters of this township.
Arrogance that makes them think that any resident who is upset with their decision to bring back a man that was recalled is ignorant, a naysayer, and is to be disregarded.
Arrogance that makes them think that they can try to blame a resident that chooses to speak out against their actions of bringing back a man recalled by voters for any trouble that might start because of their actions.
Arrogance that makes them think they can try to silence a residents voice again.
Arrogance that makes them think that by not announcing they brought back a man that was recalled by voters and removing the page for the position of township clerk from their website, that the voters wouldn't notice what they had done and could keep it quiet.
Arrogance that makes them think the township residents have just forgotten or don't care anymore about the troubles and abuses they committed in the past.
Arrogance that makes them think they "own" those seats on our township board and not the township residents that vote them into those seats.
Arrogance that makes any man think he has a right to sit as our township clerk even after the voters removed him from office and rejected him a second time.

85 days later and we are still asking "Why"?
85 days later and they still have not announced they brought formerly recalled township clerk Lee Carpenter back as the new township clerk.
85 days later and I wonder if they are just saying "Why Not"?  We will do whatever we want, we know better than you, and there is nothing you can do about it?
49 days since they removed the profile page from the township website for the township clerk and it still is not back up.  "Why"?

Here is a little review of the history and arrogance of our township board:

Bridgeport Township supervisor battles recall election, county clerk says ballots can't be altered with election eight days away

Bridgeport Township supervisor primary rehashes issues of 2010

Bridgeport Township supervisor seat to remain vacant until November election

Bridgeport Township resident files petitions to recall entire township board

Winchell to critics: Bridgeport Township recall allegations are 'community killing poisons'

Four up for recall in Bridgeport Township

Recall 'based on lies' was 'ridiculous,' says lone Bridgeport trustee avoiding ouster

Accusations fly in wake of Bridgeport board recall

 

Bridgeport Spaulding School Board Meeting / Budget Hearing June 24th, 2019

On the agenda:
1. Budget Workshop And Hearing - Patty Bullock, begins at 2:05
2. Agenda Adjustment begins at 9:08
3. 2018-19 Amended Budget Approval begins at 17:33
4. 2019-20 Budget Approval begins at 18:00
5. Building & Grounds/Finance Committee Report begins at 18:29
6. Personal Report begins at 23:49
7.United Steel Workers, Local 8410 Contract Approval begins at 26:14
8. Discussion Of Superintendents Evaluation Process begins at 32:40
9. Board Member Comments begin at 58:11
10. Superintendent Comments begin at 1:06:38
© 2019 Carla Citizen All Rights Reserved

I missed the regular school board meeting on June 10th and I meant to let everyone know that the Birch Run Bridgeport Herald has two good articles on the meeting and other good news for the schools in their June 19th edition.  Sorry I am a little late in posting that information.  The June 19th edition should still be for sale until the 26th.  The Bridgeport Library also keeps copies there of all the past issues.

The 2019 - 2020 approved budget should be posted soon on the schools website: https://www.bscs.k12.mi.us/

This was the special budget hearing and business meeting.  It was a long meeting, very informative, good discussions.  I could try to summarize it all for you but it would be best if you just listen to it.  There is also some good information gets shared during the board member and superintendents comment section at the end of the meeting.  Someday, I swear I will get a more professional camera or at least get a external microphone for this one so you can hear the speakers better. 

They are planning on having the superintendents evaluation meeting on Wednesday, June 26th at 6pm.  I will try to be there.

Search For A New Township Clerk And How It Came To Be... Or How It Should Have Been

I suppose I should start this tale with a brief history:  Lee Carpenter was the Bridgeport Township Clerk from 1988 to 2000, and then again from 2004 until he was recalled by the voters in 2011.  He did run again for election for the clerk position in 2012 but the voters said NO.  I thought the message from the voters sounded like  "We sent you packing before, take the hint you are not welcome back".

Fast forward to 2019:  Darlene Miller had been a member of the Trustee Board since 2008 and she became the township clerk after the recall and had remained the clerk until she turned in her resignation at the March 5th Township Trustee Board Meeting.  Her resignation was effective as of March 13th, 2019.

Here is the news article in the March 13th, 2019 edition of the Birch Run/Bridgeport Herald about Darlene Miller's resignation:  just click on any photo here to see larger version

I was surprised to learn that Darlene Miller had resigned, especially before her term was up.  I was told by several people that she resigned because of the township's rule on nepotism/hiring of relatives.  A family member of hers was hired for a position in the township but could not have been hired if Darlene stayed on as township clerk.  I think the nepotism rules are a good thing and should be in place and I can see where they could also be expanded.  Here are the rules for hiring within Bridgeport Township:

When I found out that Lee Carpenter had been brought back as the township clerk I was upset as some of you may have noticed if you have been reading my blog.  I had not been attending any township or school board meetings in about one year so I was behind in keeping up with the news and events here.  After I found out that Lee Carpenter had been voted in/hired as the clerk at the April 2nd, 2019 meeting I started attending the meetings again.  I attended the May 7th township board meeting and after the meeting was over one of the people from the township government had a talk with me.  It was about them bringing back Lee Carpenter and my stand against it.  The conversation didn't go well and I walked away.  You can see what I had to say about this "conversation" in this blog post:  http://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/2019/05/my-feelings.html

During this "conversation" I questioned their search for a qualified person for the position of clerk.  I thought it was said during this conversation that they had "posted" the position for clerk.  I was told that only two people applied, one of them being Lee Carpenter and that the other applicant had no prior experience.  I must have been mistaken about the "posting" for the position part.  I started doing some digging.  Assuming that they probably knew at least about the chance that Darlene Miller would be leaving before she actually turned in her resignation on March 5th, I went back through old editions of the Birch Run Bridgeport Herald.  You can find old copies at our local Bridgeport library if you are interested.  Bridgeport and all the other local townships in our area post their legal notices in the Herald, usually in the back few pages.  I went through the Herald editions from February 27th to April 3rd, 2019.  I could find no posting for the township clerk position opening.  The ONLY thing even closely related to it was the article from the March 13th edition about Darlene Miller resigning.

I sent the township several FOIA requests under Michigan's Freedom Of Information Act, pertaining to the posting of the township clerk position.  My request was for the following information:

I am requesting the following information:

1. The actual clerk position opening posting as it appeared for publication.
2. Information on where all the clerk position opening was posted, ie: local newspaper, the front door of the township offices, etc…
3. The date the clerk position opening was first posted and duration of time that the position opening was posted for.
4. If possible I would also like the names of any applicants that applied for the position and the dates they applied, and the names of any finalists that were interviewed for the position of Township Clerk and the dates they were interviewed.

The response I received stated that "According to the Michigan Township Association Rules it is not necessary to post the open positions of Board Members due to resignation or death. This has been our past practice.   We had two people fill out applications for the clerk position when Darlene resigned.  The applicants were Lee Carpenter and XX"   I have the other applicants' name but am not sharing it since I have not spoken to this person and received permission to share it.  I did some Google research on this person and they appear to be a life long Bridgeport resident and in my opinion is qualified for the position mainly because they have never been recalled or rejected by the Bridgeport voters, A Big Plus for any applicant!!

Here is a copy of the rules from the Michigan Township Association in their FAQ section that was provided to me by Bridgeport Township:

So this article says they have 45 days to fill the appointment.  It also talks about how any interviews conducted by the township board for the position should be done in an open session of the township board meeting.

I remember when Vanessa Guerra won a seat in the State government and her trustee position was open, they interviewed all six of the applicants for her former position in an open board meeting.  You can see this in the December 16th, 2014 board meeting here:
http://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/2014/12/bridgeport-township-board-meeting_18.html

Walter LaShore was the township treasurer when he passed away on  April 14th, 2015.  During the May 6th, 2015 township board meeting they appointed trustee board member Jim Secord to replace Walter LaShore as the treasurer and then during the June 2nd, 2015 township board meeting they appointed Calvin Williams to replace Jim Secord as a trustee member of the board.  There were no interviews given during these meetings to any applicants.  I don't know if there even were any other applicants or if the openings were posted at all.

So what I  am gathering from my research and the answers to my FOIA requests is that they never posted this 2019 open position for township clerk, anywhere at anytime. The article in the Herald is the only clue that anyone in Bridgeport would even have that the clerk position was open.  I don't know how many subscribers the Herald has in Bridgeport or how many copies of it are sold each week at the stores, I do know that I personally know of only two people that subscribe to it, and others that I know only pick up copies from the store when there is something in particular they are interested in it like the local high school sports.  The rules from the Michigan Township Association states that they are not required to post the open position, BUT, "doing so may attract a larger or more capable pool of candidates".  DUH!  The failure to post this open position could lead people to question if Bridgeport was even looking for any applicants for the position or did they already have someone in mind?


Part of my FOIA request was about when these two applicants for the clerk position applied and when they were interviewed.  Here is their response to this question:  "Lee turned his application in on March 26th and XX turned her application in on March 23^rd.  There were no formal interviews".  This second applicant seems to have just been dismissed off hand because they had no prior experience, was not even granted an interview. Was every member of the township board aware of the past history with Lee Carpenter? Perhaps if they had done formal interviews that could have been brought up.  Lee Carpenter they stated was hired because of his prior experience.  Like I stated in other blog posts, someone that has been recalled by the voters once and rejected a second time does not have the kind of experience that our township needs or wants.

Bridgeport had at least several weeks to seek out applicants for the clerk position.  Review the timeline of events  -- On March 5th, Darlene Miller turned in her resignation.  On March 23rd applicant XX turned in her application.  On March 26th Lee Carpenter turned in his application for the position.  On April 2nd the township board voted to hire Lee Carpenter as the clerk.
What was Bridgeport doing between March 5th and April 2nd?  What were they thinking was going to happen? Why did Bridgeport not post this position?  Why did they make no apparent  attempt to find other qualified, experienced applicants for the clerk position? Were they just sitting there on their hands waiting for the Township Fairy Godmother to just drop a qualified applicant into their laps?
These are the questions that the Bridgeport residents need to be asking their elected officials in Bridgeport and the Bridgeport Township Manager.

Lets go back to the rules against nepotism & the hiring of family members.  Bridgeport's rules only deal with "blood relatives".  Perhaps they should be expanded to include other familial relationships such as in-laws, like the Township Supervisor's relationship to Lee Carpenter is.  They are in-laws since their children are married to each other, or so I am told.  Perhaps the hiring rules should also include people that are long time good buddies with members of the township elected officials and employees, like Lee Carpenter is to several members of the township board and employees of this township. Perhaps the hiring rules should state that no person that has been recalled by the voters can be hired by their friends back into the township unless the voters themselves give the approval at the ballot box?
Lets look at the most generally accepted definition of Nepotism, Cronyism, and Favoritism:
"Nepotism is the granting of favor to relatives in various fields, including business, politics, entertainment, sports, religion and other activities. Nepotism refers to partiality to family whereas Cronyism refers to partiality to a partner or friend. Favoritism, the broadest of the terms, refers to partiality based upon being part of a favored group, rather than job performance."
The township board may not have violated their rules on hiring of relatives but did their actions smack of Cronyism or Favoritism?

The Michigan Township Association website states:
"Michigan's townships are the form of government closest to the people. The epitome of local democracy, elected township leaders are truly "neighbors serving neighbors," offering accountable, effective and efficient representation and services to their residents."
In my opinion the Bridgeport employees and elected officials failed to live up to these standards when they brought Lee Carpenter back into our township government.  The Bridgeport residents deserve better.  They deserve elected officials that respect them, truly represent them, and listen to their voices, like when the residents spoke and voted to remove Lee Carpenter from office.

I personally like some of the members of our township trustee board but I will never vote for a single one of them again because of their vote, twice, to bring back into our government a person that the residents voted to recall.
FIRST TIME -- During the December 18th, 2018 township trustee board meeting the members voted to appoint Lee Carpenter to the Zoning Board of Appeals.  These members voted to approve his appointment - Supervisor Tausend, Treasurer Secord, Trustees Wilson, Williams, Gutierrez and Thayer.  The Clerk Darlene Miller was absent for this meeting.
SECOND TIME -- During the April 2nd, 2019 township trustee board meeting the members voted to hire Lee Carpenter as the township clerk.  These members voted to approve this action - Treasurer Secord, Trustee Gutierrez, Thayer and Williams.  Absent from this meeting was Supervisor Tausend and Trustee Wilson.

It is not only members of the township board that share responsibility for bringing Lee Carpenter back, it was also township employees, but township employees are not elected by the voters so we have no chance to hold them accountable.  The best we can do is to elect the kind of township officials that will live up to the standards they are supposed to, the kind of officials that would not vote to bring back someone the voters threw out of office.

To view all the posts I have here on the history and hiring of Lee Carpenter back into the Bridgeport Government, you can use the search function on my blog page or just click this link:
https://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/search/label/Lee%20Carpenter

Bridgeport Township DDA Meeting June 12th, 2019

On the agenda:
Public Comment by Bridgeport Spaulding School Superintendent Mark Whelton begins at 2:14
New Business -
1. Demolition Recommendation for 4418 Williamson begins at 6:31
2. Property Recommendation for 3774 & 3778 State St. begins at 12:50
3. Beautification committee discussion begins at 25:42
Old Business -
1. DDA By Laws begins at 42:53
DDA Cordinators Report begins at 43:53
Board Member Comments begin at 44:56
© 2019 Carla Citizen All Rights Reserved

There may be some board members that don't like my right to come and video tape the meetings but that is a right that our Founding Fathers had the foresight to grant to all citizens.  That's life and you just have to deal with it.

And I am wondering why if you don't live in our township and you don't own or run a business in our township, why would you be on our township DDA board?

Now to the meeting.

The Bridgeport School Superintendent introduced himself to the board and shared some of his visions for our community.  I believe he will be speaking again at the next DDA board meeting on July 10th.

During the New Business section of the meeting they discussed some plans and possible plans for various projects for the township.

It would be nice if Bridgeport residents would attend these meetings and hear what their plans are and provide them with feedback.

** Don't change the amount of the beautiful flower pots that brighten up our community or I may start a revolt!!! 

Mr. Ron Gobeyn will be retiring from the DDA board after serving our community for 26 years on the board.  Thank You Mr. Gobeyn for all your years of dedicated service!

 

Bridgeport Township Government Lack Of Transparency?

I posted this on Carla Citizen's Facebook page several days ago but I  know that not everyone uses social media sites like Facebook so I will share this here also.  If you were to look at the township government website you would never know that the formerly recalled township clerk Lee Carpenter is back as the township clerk again. I would consider that a serious lack of transparency considering the history of him being recalled by the voters.  As of late Monday evening, June 10th, he is still not listed on their website even though they did at least one other update of adding a truck for sale to their homepage, and moving the Dixie Highway project notice back onto the front page.  Is it safe to assume that 69 days now after his hiring that they have no intention at this point of listing him on their website?  Is it unreasonable at this point to wonder if they are intentionally trying to deceive the Bridgeport residents?
https://www.bridgeportmi.org/ 

From June 10th:

From my June 8th Facebook post:

June 8th, 2019 update on the Township Clerk position listed on the Bridgeport Township Government website, or should I say lack of the position listed on their website. On April 2nd, 2019 Bridgeport voted to hire Lee Carpenter back as the Township Clerk, even though he had been recalled from that position in 2011 by the voters. There was never any official announcement of his hiring to replace the retiring clerk. On May 7th, over 1 month after his hiring, they still had the retired clerk listed on their website. On May 8th there was no longer a page on their website for the township clerk position. It is June 8th and there are pages there for the Manager, Supervisor, etc... but still not one for the clerk. So Strange 🤔 Wonder if they will ever put a page back up for the township clerk?

Bridgeport Township Board Meeting June 4th, 2019

Thought For The Day

 

On the agenda:

Special Orders -
1. RZ19-01 Rezone 6600 Junction 2nd Reading Parcel #90-11-5-24-4004-02 begins at 2:00
Public Comment begins at 3:42
New Business -
1. 2018 Audit Presentation - Quast, Janke & Company CPA's begins at 8:46
2. R19-03 Consumers Energy Standard Street Light Contract begins at 16:30
3. R19-04 Consumers Energy Change in Standard Street Light Contract begins at 18:19
4. RZ19-01 Rezone 6600 Junction Parcel #09-11-5-26-4004-002 begins at 19:42
5. PA116 Application for Spero 5800 Sheridan Parcel #09-11-5-19-3010-001 begins at 20:39
6. 2019 Property Tax Foreclosures begins at 22:28
7. Introduction of Police Officer Garrett Breternitz begins at 22:35
8. Zoning Board of Appeals Appointments begins at 25:31
9. Fire Arm Disposal begins at 26:39
10. Fire Department Uniforms begins at 28:03
11. Anderson Complex Door begins at 29:08
12. Tree Removal begins at 31:02
Account Payable Checks begins at 32:59
Board Member Comments begin at 33:48
© 2019 Carla Citizen All Rights Reserved

The meeting was a normal meeting with the normal business at hand.  There was one item which caught my attention.  That was the Zoning Board of Appeals Appointments.  They voted to remove Lee Carpenter from the zoning board and replace him with another man. I thought WTH?  When did the formerly recalled Lee Carpenter get on the zoning board of appeals?  So I did some digging through the past meeting minutes and found that he was appointed to that board during the December 18th, 2018 township trustee board meeting.  They appointed these people: William Cannon, Robert Licht Jr., Craig Beins, and Lee Carpenter as an alternate with terms to expire on 12/31/21.

Every member of the trustee board voted to approve these appointments except Darlene Miller who was absent from this meeting. 

In the minutes for the January 8th, 2019 Zoning Board of Appeals Special Meeting I found these notes:

"Prior to the meeting, Clerk Miller administered the Oath of Office to Bill Cannon and Deputy Clerk Shaw administered the Oath of Office to Craig Beins.
Present: Bill Cannon, Craig Beins, Mike Tate.
Absent: Jim Secord, Lee Carpenter."
Robert Licht Jr. is not even mentioned in these minutes so I am wondering if Lee Carpenter would have been sworn in as a regular member if he had been in attendance?

I am also wondering what all these people were thinking about when they voted to appoint Lee Carpenter to that board?  Obviously they weren't thinking that they would honor the wishes of the voters who voted to recall him in 2011 and voted NO on him when he ran again for office in 2012.  Were they thinking the same thing when they voted to make him the township clerk during the April 2nd, 2019 trustee board meeting?  Were they thinking "screw the voters, we will do what we want"?  Were they thinking "no one is watching so we can just sneak him in"?  Were they thinking "the voters are too stupid to know what is going on or too apathetic to care what we do"?  I honestly can't fathom what they could have been thinking either time they voted to bring him back into the township government even after the voters voted to recall him.  Maybe it is just my "personal feelings" that make me upset that they said screw the voters in my opinion, but so far it seems to also be the feelings of others in this township that I have talked to about him being back.

This is a excellent example of why voting is important.  The Bridgeport residents didn't vote to bring Lee Carpenter back, but they did vote for the people who brought him back despite the will of the people.  In my opinion these elected officials have no respect for the residents and voters of our township, and that is something that the voters can remedy through the ballot box.

Once you show me that you can be sneaky and deceitful there's no point in trying to show me you can be anything else.

When Journalism Doesn't Do Journalism

What Is Journalism?  "Journalism is the activity of gathering, assessing, creating, and presenting news and information. It is also the product of these activities.  Journalism can be distinguished from other activities and products by certain identifiable characteristics and practices. These elements not only separate journalism from other forms of communication, they are what make it indispensable to democratic societies. History reveals that the more democratic a society, the more news and information it tends to have."

I'm not a journalist, I am a blogger that would give English teachers fits, a "Social Media Princess" as one person called me. The public should expect higher standards and accurate reporting from what are considered the true journalism outlets such as your local newspapers.  There are two instances where I find our local journalists and journalism lacking.

The first instance goes back to 2016.  There had been serious and wild accusations made by a Bridgeport resident, now a school board member himself, against Mrs. Marti Sageman and other members of the Bridgeport School Board. I covered these on my blog and all the local media outlets covered them extensively; in print, on TV, they would all show up at the meetings with their cameras and crews, the accuser was given plenty of TV airtime etc...  Residents were just about demanding board members heads on a platter.  Everyone believed the accusations.  Sadly there are residents in Bridgeport Township that still believe those accusations to this day.  Why? Because when the case was dismissed by the courts for having no merit, none of the local media was there to cover the story. The accuser had no proof, no documents, no witnesses.  After all the sensational coverage the local media had given the accusations, you would think they would have wanted to give the cases dismissals at least a mention so as to inform the public of the final outcome.  No more sensational accusations & headlines, no media interest it seemed to cover it. This was all dismissed by the court in May of 2016.  When I finally found out about the dismissal I wrote a blog post sharing some of the court documents for the dismissal in August of 2016.  You can read that blog post here and see the documents I shared from the courts:
http://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/2016/08/dismissal-of-john-rhines-lawsuit.html

So it is now three years after the accusations and lawsuits were thrown out by the courts and still no coverage by the local media.  I have only found one recent mention in an article by Bob Johnson of MLive of part of the original lawsuits and him saying that it was dismissed due to board action of voting to approve a separation agreement.  To me that does not seem like a very accurate or complete description of all that was involved in the whole mess that went on for over a year.  If that is all that you ever read about the accusations and lawsuits dismissal, you might still believe that the wild accusations were true.  Read the court documents to see the truth about it. Here is the article by Bob Johnson about the lawyer Philip Ellison where he mentions in passing the case about Bridgeport:
https://www.mlive.com/news/saginaw-bay-city/2019/04/saginaw-county-lawyer-behind-tire-chalking-lawsuit-says-he-fights-for-the-little-guy.html 
The media started a story and never finished it.

The second instance where I find our local journalists and journalism lacking involves a story that goes all the way back from 2009 through 2013 and involves the Bridgeport Township Trustee Board and other government officials.  It all revolves around actions taken by the township government and the restoration of the historic State Street Bridge here in downtown Bridgeport.  Most residents remember all about that.  The local media again covered most aspects of the original story in detail.  Members of the Trustee Board and some officials were recalled by the voters.  One of those recalled was Lee Carpenter.  Lee Carpenter was hired back to the Trustee Board as the clerk again, but not by the voters, but by the government officials, some of whom may be family and friends of his.  Lee Carpenter was hired back on April 2nd of this year and still no local media has covered that fact.  I would think that most Bridgeport residents would like to be informed of that fact since they did vote to recall him at one time.  If I was a journalist or a publisher of one of our local media outlets I would think that might be a story that the Bridgeport residents, their news subscribers, might be interested in.  When the local government does not inform the residents of this decision then the media is the main other option for the residents to find it out.  The only other way they could find it out is the same way I did by reading the minutes of the April 2nd trustee meeting.  The Bridgeport Township government has yet to make an official announcement of the hiring of Lee Carpenter.  As of May 7th, the page on the township government website under the Administration section for the Township Clerk still had the retired clerk listed.  As of May 8th, the page for the Township Clerk was removed and still is not back up on their website as of this writing.  All the other pages for positions like Township Supervisor, Township Treasurer etc... are still there, just not one for the Clerk.  Does Bridgeport Township not want the voters/residents to know that the formerly recalled Lee Carpenter is back as the township clerk?  One can only speculate as to why they do not have a page for him.
I wrote a post about the township hiring Lee Carpenter back in April that also provides links to some of the original news stories about the troubles back when they were recalled and you can read it here:
http://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/2019/04/something-old-something-new-some-things.html

*EDIT* June 5, 2019 - I found out during the June 4th township trustee meeting that they first voted to appoint Lee Carpenter to the Zoning Board of Appeals during the December 18, 2018 township trustee board meeting.  Were they bound and determined to bring him back to whatever position they could find for him in the township government? You can read my blog post about it: https://bridgeportmusings.blogspot.com/2019/06/bridgeport-township-board-meeting-june.html

I am truly surprised that the local media has not covered the story of Lee Carpenter being hired back to the position he was recalled from by the voters.  I would think that especially a smaller outlet like the Birch Run/Bridgeport Herald that basically covers nothing but Birch Run and Bridgeport stories would find the time and space to report on that to their customers.

So when news organizations start sensational stories but then just drop them when they are no longer sensational, or fail to report on stories that would be of interest to the voters but perhaps not so good for the local government, is that just lazy journalism?   Dishonest journalism?  Lack of journalism?  Maybe this is the reason that so many news organizations are no longer respected and are losing business?