Continuing with Judge Michael Caldwell’s comments, today we look at three expenditures which the Township Trustees ordered and for which Supervisor Linda Moore was withholding payment when the judge ruled were legitimate.

They are

• payments for transcripts
• videoing of meetings and
• making copies for audience members

On a matter of continuing contention, however, Moore won.

Trustee Rob LaPorta has been insistent that he wants to be able to look at the township books in a “read-only” format over the internet.

Moore’s investigations of the accounting system being used, Quick Books, led her to conclude this was not possible, so she has made them available during office hours at the township office, access that made it difficult for LaPorta to avail himself of.

Here is the part of the judge’s concluding comments in the hearing two weeks ago:

The videographer will be paid.

THE COURT: Q & A Reporting. The trustees have a right to have a transcript of their proceedings if they wish. The Q & A Reporting bill should be paid.

Excellence in Copying. If you want to have additional matters from the agenda printed up to be available for the public for the use and inspection at the meeting, that certainly is a legitimate cost.

Point of Video, the same thing.

Now, on the access to the bills, the court’s going to find that the access to the bills — to the financial records as described by me today by Linda Moore in her testimony is adequate to comply with the court’s order.

She has stated that the records are available during normal business hours, Monday through Friday. They are available at other times by appointment.

I don’t find that to be unreasonable on its face.

Supervisor Linda Moore dislplays financial information on a scree last summer.

I am accepting Ms. Moore’s description of what she has made available on the laptop computer because, quite frankly, she is the only one that I know of who has actually seen it or used it or set it up.

The motion here is brought upon basically suspicion, innuendo, supposition and conjecture; that, because the trustees don’t like it. They want remote access, remote access isn’t necessary.

The problem I have with the Internet is that once you get on the Internet there are all sorts of opportunities for mischief, that quite frankly, in this township we don’t need.

I don’t need it and you don’t need it.