THE VOICE OF THE TOWNSHIP
WAYNE TOWNSHIP; A ROLE MODEL FOR REORGANIZATION
Recently you have heard a lot about government reorganization in Allen County. This has been a topic of growing interest for some time and there are many positive outcomes to look forward to. My hope is that all of us in this great County of Allen have a voice in the government that will serve us best, not be sold on a pre-determined vision by those with the largest platform or the loudest voice. A recent article in the Journal Gazette cited the Wayne Township Office in Allen County as a model for professional operation. With the spirit of this thought in mind, and my hope for input from all, I would like to offer the Wayne Township Trustee’s Office as a model for reorganization.
The Wayne Township Office is arguably the government office in touch with more of its citizens coming to the office on a daily basis than any other in the county or perhaps northeastern Indiana. The decisions made in our township office can literally mean life or death for a citizen that might go without medicine, shelter, utilities, or food. Well over 20,000 families sought assistance through our office this past year. Each and every one of them was handled on a personal basis; yet, I received not one complaint about service. Why? We carefully listen to the needs of the citizens and tend to them on an immediate basis, not only because in most cases they have to be, but also because we want them to be. We routinely discuss our supervisory goal of meeting the needs not only of the citizens but also of township staff in a prompt and courteous way, for if this attitude is not obvious at all levels of operation, then we cannot possibly give our citizens the care and concern they deserve.
A sympathetic ear and a caring heart can only go so far though, and I always marvel at the wisdom of our forefathers in their establishment of Township Government to respond on an immediate basis to emergency conditions of local citizens. So strong was their belief in the townships that if you look at the front of the Allen County Courthouse there is no mention of any government official except for the twenty townships. The Trustee must understand the wisdom of our forefathers and put it in use to truly serve the community. The statutes governing townships allows great authority for the trustee to fill in the gaps between services, and I am so very proud of a staff that has shown incredible passion in just doing whatever it takes to help this community in linking all the services together.
One community partnership always seems to be a building block for the next need, and I will offer as an example a recent success. The local VA Hospital has been a great partner in the Healthy Cities Health Fair/Veterans Stand Down each November. They have also been supportive of the township efforts to assist local residents, along with the Allen County Commissioners Service Officer George Jarboe. This three-way partnership has led to great success in assisting local veterans and when the challenge of an overflow homeless shelter became critical two days ago Dr. Michael Murphy director of the local VA offered his former on site residence to meet this need. The Allen Sheriff Department Reserve Officers and the Fort Wayne Rescue Mission became our partners in the services needed to complete this life saving shelter.
Who knows; maybe the life experience that can be learned from one of these people, with no platform, and a voice weakened from cold and hunger, might serve us well in the design of a government that can serve all the citizens of this community.
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