Woman pays township bill with ‘sticky’ change
When Margie Swart was required to pay for paperwork with exact change, she took the request literally.
WEST GOSHEN >> When a township resident paid a bill with pocket change, she found herself in a “sticky” situation.
Margie Swart said she was required to pay for paperwork for a Right-To-Know request with exact change on Aug. 1. She presented rolls of pennies and coins to pay for the $4.25 bill which, according to township supervisors, were “sticky.”
The request for information concerned a Natural Lands Trust property transfer.
Township Manager Casey LaLonde said Swart had created a “disturbance” and he then called police who are located at the same campus.
A police incident report reads that the case was Closed/Cleared, with no further action.
“We respond to every call we’re requested to go to ,” said West Goshen Police Chief Joe Gleason. “We don’t pick and choose.”
All five township supervisors sent Swart a letter concerning the “sticky” coins.
“It is quite unfortunate that valuable attention, resources and time was spent addressing your immature antics…,” reads the letter from supervisors. “contrary to your self-proclaimed goal of being a champion of Township fiscal responsibility and accountability.”
Robin Stuntebeck, Hugh Purnell Jr., Ed Meakim Jr., Chris Pielli and Shaun Walsh are township supervisors.
Swart said that she had requested that the information be emailed to her at no charge, but she neglected to check a box on the actual form, while she still requested the emailing of information in a cover letter.
The township supers responded: “Rather than protecting and benefiting and protecting the residents of West Goshen Township your actions burden the township and distract Township staff from performing their jobs. The Board of Supervisors does not condone such behavior and finds it unacceptable and harassing.”
Swart is a regular township critic at meetings and often requests information. She said, Wednesday, that township officials have been trying to intimidate her for several years.
She was accompanied at the township with a videographer, Abbas Rahbari, and she said the recorded exchange went off without a hitch.
“On this day, my interaction with clerical staff was cordial and professional,” Swart said. “These fabrications, lies and accusations are baseless both in fact and in law.
Swart said that in no way did she doctor or alter the coins.
“Mr. Rahbari’s video recording is the ultimate proof. At no point did anyone display animosity or concern.
“Calling the police was intimidation and harassment as this is a pattern of course of conduct by Township Manager Casey LaLonde,” she said.
Resident Tom Casey is a regular township critic at public meetings.
“I find it extremely troubling and sad to have learned that our township would actively engage the police regarding a simple payment from a township resident” Casey said. “That is not how to properly behave when dealing with the public.
“My questions are how much did this $4.25 payment for copies cost taxpayers when they engaged the police, forensic analysis of the sticky substance, and the township’s solicitors office who wrote the letter for the board? And why would the entire board have allowed such a thing to continue in the first place? And who should really be held accountable for this mess?”
Supervisors now request that residents pay with cash dollars or via check.
“I find it extremely troubling and sad to have learned that our township would actively engage the police regarding a simple payment from a township resident.”
— Resident Tom Casey