At the Aug. 23 Springettsbury Township Board of Supervisors meeting, I addressed the board with information I received by using the state's Right To Know Law.

After tallying all the receipts, I determined that township manager John Holman spent over $26,000 in his search for and the hiring of a new chief of police. Of this money, over $8,000 was spent on attorney's fees. In fact, Holman had the township's legal counsel sit in on the interviews with the final four candidates at $300 per hour, plus expenses.

Strange, to say the least, and an extreme waste of taxpayers dollars. As the officer in charge during that period, I had suggested to Holman that he utilize the Pennsylvania Chiefs of Police Association to conduct the search and subsequent interviews. Holman decided to take on this endeavor himself.

Not only was a large sum of money spent unnecessarily, Holman mistakenly hired the new chief as a tenured officer rather than an at-will employee, which was the intention of the township. Contrary to township policy, the new chief was also never placed on a one-year period of probation.

Serious changes need to be made to this board; please vote to replace the two incumbents in 2013.

David G. Trott

Springettsbury Twp.