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Council presses administration for breakdown of mayor's taxpayer‑funded mailers and magnets
Summary
Council members sought a full accounting after finance staff confirmed printing charges tied to mayoral mailings: $1,548 for a printed letter and $6,665 for magnets. Officials asked administration for total mailing, stuffing and postage costs and signaled potential review of whether campaign‑style materials should be paid from public funds.
Council members pressed township finance and the administration on Feb. 8 for a full accounting of taxpayer‑funded mailings tied to mayoral communications after entries in the bill list showed printing charges for a mayoral letter and refrigerator magnets.
Finance staff told the council there is a charge for "concept printing for letters from the mayor" totaling $1,548, and a separate printing charge for magnets in the amount of $6,665. "The bill list does include a charge for concept printing for letters from the mayor," said the finance representative Ken (last name not given). "There is another charge for concept printing for a magnet, which was in the amount of $6,665."
Council members asked whether the bill list also contains postage and mailing charges and requested a single total for the "all‑in" cost of the mailer — printing, assembly (stuffing and sealing) and postage. Finance staff said a detailed line item for mailing was not immediately available in the public packet and offered to pull the numbers and return them to the council.
Several council members framed the request as a transparency and ethics issue: Councilman Patel asked whether the mailer constituted campaign material paid by public funds and asked the administration for a definitive line‑by‑line accounting. Councilman Poynter said the council needed the full package cost so the body — or affected residents — could decide whether reimbursement or other remedies are warranted. "If he's not willing to reimburse the town right from his political campaign for it then I would look to, let's say sue him as a resident ... to recoup those funds," Poynter said.
Town legal counsel and administration said they would provide the requested detail to the council and review whether any line items were improperly coded. Administration officials emphasized that some items on the bill list are routine printing for town business and that not all printing is political material; they pledged to return with a complete breakdown of printing and mailing costs and to identify what was municipal business versus campaign‑style messaging.
What’s next: Administration agreed to deliver a detailed breakdown of the printing, magnet and mailing charges and to report back when that information is available. Several council members said they will review the totals and consider next steps, which could include a demand for reimbursement or referral to appropriate ethics or oversight processes if campaign activity is found to have been funded by municipal funds.
