It's a Tale of Two Township Governments

It's one of my favorite aspects of the job: covering my township governments.

Palmer and Forks townships both have a Board of Supervisors and both have some great people who serve as township officials in various roles.

Going to the meetings has become like seeing family, and I get to do it often enough.

In Palmer, the supervisors meet the first and second Monday of each month and the fourth Tuesday.

In Forks, the board holds a work session the first Tuesday of the month with the regular meeting on the third Thursday.

And even though I get the agendas, you never know just what is going to come up.

Palmer Supervisors Chairman Dave Colver tries to keep everyone entertained, cracking jokes when the agenda is light...jokes that are usually at my expense.

Or he'll fumble with the iPad he uses to run the meetings and joke about how paper sometimes is much better than technology. He made that crack at last Tuesday's meeting as a planning map failed to load quickly on a screen.

And sometimes, too, the board can zip through agenda items so fast that the meeting is wrapped up in a half-hour or so. Now that's efficiency.

It's a relatively smooth operation and credit goes out to Colver, Township Manager Christopher Christman and company for having their eyes on the ball at all times.

Forks is a funny group.

The officials are all good natured and very friendly. But due to the issues of late, you need a knife to sometimes cut through the tension in the room.

That was evident at the recent supervisors meeting when some were fighting and fuming over small potatoes such as fireworks and donations because the township is now in dire straits financially.

We all understand that. When our wallets are empty, we get very frustrated about where the money is going to come from to pay the bills.

That's not the case in Palmer, which has now gone five years without handing out a tax hike to residents.

Forks prevented taxes from rising for this year, but many officials believed they made the wrong decision.

So all of these future meetings will be interesting.

You should come out to see all of these guys — and a gal — in action. Sometimes, it's very entertaining and enlightening.

Otherwise, keep coming back here to read all about the news in Palmer and Forks townships.