Schuylkill Township supervisors managed to lower zoning permit fees this week, despite bickering dominating the meeting.

The room was packed, with more than 40 residents in attendance.Chairman Charles Fayash had to quiet the crowd on several occasions, and former supervisor Christine Verdier was removed from the meeting.Vice Chairman Charlie Hosler reprimanded Police Chief Frank DiMarco for spending $590.30 without approval from the board.DiMarco had asked for the money to be released last month, but Hosler said the board had not approved it. DiMarco said the money was used for police equipment.Hosler also complained about money spent for a new jack, salt that was purchased for $1,900 that won't be used this year and might melt or wash away, and he seemed suspicious of the $5,000 earned by the new roadmaster,Fayash.DiMarco said he himself didn't make that much in four years when he was roadmaster. Fayash has earned that within two months alone.He also complained about Fayash going up and down the road several times with the town's plow when there was only ¼ inch of snow on the ground.Fayash had arebuttal for eachaccusation, and asked Hosler if he intended to "nitpick all day."The board voted to make an offer for a 2002 F-150 snowplowing truck for $20,000 from Foster Township. A motion also passed to rent a street sweeper.Zoning officer Paul Benulis discussed new lower fees for zoning permits.Public inputResidentJohn Bubon of Brockton said Hosler shouldn't be dissecting every expenditure item. Hosler defended himself, saying that he's just looking out for the budget to be adhered to by the board.A former township supervisor, Christine Verdier, was also a source of controversy at the meeting when residents pointed out her inappropriate behavior in town meetings and around town after being voted out of the board. She was escorted out of the meeting after failing to comply with a warning from Fayash. She had been removed from last month's meeting as well.Auditor Aggie Kane of Tuscarora addressed the audience."Back in January, the Times News wrote an article, and in that article Christine Verdier made issue that our supervisors violated the Sunshine Act, meaning they were meeting and making decisions before a public meeting. I found this article disturbing because not 24 hours later, she tried to get myself and another auditor to violate that same law. Apparently, she feels she is above the law and these rules don't apply to her."Kane said Verdier came to her workplace and told her to vote for a roadmaster hourly rate of $7.25 an hour compared to the original rate of $14 an hour.Verdier answered Kane, saying that she did not violate the Sunshine Act because she met individually with each person she approached, and that as a "citizen activist" it was her "prerogative" to speak her mind.Verdier said she believed the measure to lower the roadmaster's salary made sense.John Bubon said that what some people say regarding only "a few people" making decisions or effecting change in the township is a fallacy, as witnessed in the over 300 people who showed up to vote in the last township election and the good turnout at the meeting this week. It was during Bubon's comment that Verdier was escorted out of the meeting.GarbageA resident asked if the township has a way to deal with people who don't pay their garbage bill. When the garbage starts piling up, it smells in the summer and draws rodents and critters.DiMarco said the police could issue a citation for those people. DiMarco said that the town would have to incur some expense to eventually remove the accumulation of garbage when all else fails.Benulis exhorted the board as part of his public comments by saying, "To the board, I do request to try and look a little bit more professional. Charlie, I don't know if you mean it or not, but it looks like you hate Frank, all right. It looks like you hate Chuck. You kind of nitpick at him the whole time. Just be professional."He said he forgot to spread the word about the meeting that night on Facebook, and he was pleased to see how many people care enough to come to the meeting. The township's channel on YouTube has 450 views.Dan Gray of Brockton said, "I moved here because it was still America, and started to spread out. Many of you are aware that I'm involved in grass roots politics all over the commonwealth and beyond, and there's a lot of small towns that are struggling with the same issues of transparency, of wanting to get government to do what it is supposed to do only, to do it really well, to do it as cheaply as possible, most bangs for the buck, and to do what citizens want, which isn't the same in every single township and borough. And I'm really, really proud and happy that I have neighbors like you."