Antrim Township Supervisors release statement in firings

August 22, 2008

The following statement was issued to the press by the Antrim Township Board of Supervisors:

To the Citizens of Antrim Township:

Today, the Board of Supervisors for Antrim Township eliminated the positions of six employees of Antrim Township. These employees were eliminated as a direct result of a re-organization plan recommended by Dhillon Management Services, who was hired by the Board of Supervisors to perform a complete analysis of the township's management, operations, staffing, and spacing needs. This assessment was completed by a highly regarded, objective, and professional consulting firm and was hired after extensive interviews and many positive recommendations from other municipalities who have retained this firms' services. Our intentions when hiring Dhillon Management Services were to find ways in which we could improve the operations of your township and determine if a new municipal building was needed, while focusing on efficiency and fiduciary responsibility. It was never our intent to eliminate individual positions unless they were found to be unnecessary by this professional assessment.

The following individuals are no longer employed by Antrim Township:

1. Township Manager - Benjamin Thomas

2. Utilities Director - Charles Goetz

3. Utilities Superintendent - Larson Wenger

4. Roadmaster - Paul Barnett

5. Assistant Roadmaster - Robert Wible

6. Finance Secretary Eileen Strausner

The Board of Supervisors accepted these changes of employment and has committed to re-organizing the operations of Antrim Township as part of our duty as your elected officials. We also continue to abide by our pledge to the citizens of this township, which we signed earlier this year. We promised you that we would operate this board with integrity and fiduciary responsibility. Our professional consultant has determined through an exhaustive and extensive analysis of our operations that there are many key areas in which we can improve; and our current staffing levels are one of those key areas.

It is not a pleasant experience seeing any employee leave their jobs with Antrim Township, as we have enjoyed working with many of those departing. Emotions or personal friendships aside, our primary duty is to serve you, the taxpayer, responsibly. We take that responsibility extremely seriously. These staffing changes will save our citizens approximately $300,000.00 annually in employee wages and benefits alone. The level of service provided by the township will not be compromised but rather enhanced. In fact, we expect to experience greater efficiency in the operations of the township as a result of this re-organization.

We look forward to enacting additional changes that have been recommended by Dhillon Management Services to increase efficiency and minimize waste. We appreciate the confidence the taxpayers of Antrim Township have placed in this elected board and we look forward to continuing our service to the citizens of this great community.

Yours in Service,

The Antrim Township Board of Supervisors

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