VOICE OF THE TOWNSHIP

We have a couple of very important days coming up soon for the citizens of our Township. Those days are Election Day next Tuesday and Veterans Day on Friday. Most of us know from all the advertising that this year’s election is for municipal offices only–Mayor, City Clerk and City Council.

I encourage all registered voters to take time out prior to Tuesday and learn as much as you can about the candidates. Informed voters make good choices, and information about the candidates is readily available. Then, on Tuesday, make sure you get out and vote for the candidates you think will do the best job for our city.

If you are unable to get the polls on Tuesday, you can vote early at the Allen County Election Board Office at One West Superior Street, just two blocks from the Wayne Township Office. Early voting hours are Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Monday from 8 a.m. to noon. You can find out whether you are registered to vote and the location of your polling place by logging into www.indianavoters.com. Or, you can contact the Allen County Election Board or the political parties’ headquarters. The polls will be open on Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Then on Friday, our Country honors and celebrates our veterans. I am proud that we have several veterans and spouses of veterans working in our office. This year, we honored our Township employee veterans by having them carry the Township banner in the Waynedale Memorial Day Parade.

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The U.S. Air Force Band of Flight from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio will present a special free concert at the Memorial Coliseum at 7 p.m. Friday in honor of Veterans Day. The Veterans Day Parade will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday at State and Parnell and will proceed down Parnell to the Coliseum. Interested Veterans participating in the parade will receive a complimentary ticket to the IPFW basketball game at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Coliseum.

At the Wayne Township Trustee’s Office, we try to identify veterans in need of services and refer them to programs that can help them. We also provide veterans who are eligible for Township assistance with rent, utility, food and any help we can offer. I am very saddened when I meet veterans who are homeless or have not been able to re-establish their lives after their service. Thank you to all veterans and their families for their service and the sacrifices they have made for us.

I have discussed before in this column Wayne Township’s Representative Payee Program. This program helps manage the finances of persons, particularly those receiving Social Security disability benefits, who are unable to manage their money on their own. For those individuals, Wayne Township staff pays their bills for basic necessities from the clients’ own funds.

Because of the mental challenges some of our payee clients face, we need to know about various alternatives available to them. One of those alternatives is a guardianship. That is why two of my staff members recently attended a Guardianship Forum sponsored by the Volunteer Lawyer Program and Easter Seals Arc.

While we don’t serve as guardians here at the Township, it is very helpful for my staff to learn when to refer a client for a guardianship and where that client might go for this service. I encourage my staff to become as knowledgeable as they can about the many services available in our community and how we can partner with other agencies to make life better for our clients.

Richard A. Stevenson, Sr.
Wayne Township Trustee
www.waynetownship.org