Reporter presses sewage authority over advertised meeting time; board says authority posts correct time

During the open public-comment period the attendee who identified themself as the Franklin Reporter criticized the meeting start time, saying the township website lists a later start and that residents who rely on that site could miss meetings. "The average Franklin resident isn't gonna go searching for legal notice... They're gonna go to the township website," the reporter said, adding the mismatch was "not fair."

Authority staff and counsel responded that the Franklin Township Sewage Authority maintains its own website and had the correct start time posted there. Counsel reminded the public that the sewage authority is a separate statutory entity from the township and that its own website lists the accurate meeting time. Executive Director Joseph Danielson explained the authority's process for recording and posting meetings to an online repository and acknowledged a delay with a prior meeting's recording owing to technical issues that required combining multiple video files.

The board opened and then closed the public-comment period by motion and voice vote; staff said the audit and other reports would be posted on the authority website. A commissioner agreed to follow up with the township to ask that the township website be corrected; staff acknowledged they would raise the issue again with the township IT department.