CLEARFIELD – Lawrence Township will have an extra $45,000 in their general funds budget this year. This comes after the board voted against having two road masters. Glenn Johnston and Bill Lawhead voted against having two road masters, while Ed Brown is in favor of two.
Johnston stated, “Success has been met by having only one road master, economically and efficiently.” He also pledged to give his personal time to make sure it runs smoothly “without reimbursement of pay.” He said the Township could save that money and use it in other ways.
Brown strongly disagreed with Johnston. In a public statement issued to the press he stated that he “ran for the office of Lawrence Township Supervisor on the platform and expectation of being a working supervisor, commonly referred to as a road master, which is the working part of working supervisor.”
Brown’s full statement reads as follows:
“In good faith I ran for the office of Lawrence Township Supervisor on the platform and expectation of being a working supervisor commonly referred to as a road master, which is the working part of Working Supervisor.
“I won my place on the ballot in the primary election on this platform with a sizeable majority of the votes.
“I won the general election for Supervisor on the platform of being a working supervisor, again with a sizeable majority of the votes.
“A working supervisor previously occupied the seat on the board of supervisors I won.
“However:
“It has been the decision of the majority of this Board of Supervisors to ignore the normal and long established president in this township of appointing a duly elected Working Supervisor to a Road Master position.
“What this means to you the residents of Lawrence Township is that your choice to have me, Ed Brown, work for and serve you on a daily basis has been ignored by the majority of this Board of Supervisors.
“Regrettably I will not be available to take your calls. You will not see me out plowing the snow, opening storm drains, cleaning ditches, opening plugged sewer lines, supervising contractors, or any of the other hands of work that was customary for me in the past.
“Remember! This is not my choice but I must abide by the decision of the majority of the Board of Supervisors.”
Lawrence Township Supervisor
Ed Brown
Lawhead said he was put in an unenviable position. He said, “You were elected as township supervisor. You campaigned that way and two years ago you were voted out. Do we need the extra money? Sure. That’s a half a mile of road paving if the price doesn’t go up. There’s no reason I can’t do the job by myself with the help of Barb (Shaffner) and the road crew.”
There are currently seven full-time and one part-time road crew members. Lawhead said that if the township needed another road crew member they would revisit the idea of having a second road master.