by Joseph A. Lypowy 9/27/06

   Mayor Brush has been telling the people of Dover Twp. That the Proposed name change is only going to cost the taxpayers $16,000. Well he’s wrong, and I can prove it because the name change has already exceeded that amount and it hasn’t even been voted on yet. In some recent articles appearing locally, Dover Township Clerk, Mark Mutter, was quoted as saying that the counting and verification of the petition took 736 employee man hours to complete. If you multiply 736 hours times a conservative figure of $20 per hour, you end up with a total of $14,720, just a little short of $16,000. If you also take into consideration that Mutter makes at least $40 per hour and there were probably other higher paid employees involved, not including any possible overtime, that the poultry figure of $16,000 has already been surpassed.
   In the same article, Brush was quoted as stating that his poultry figure of $16,000 will only cover the cost of a new town seal on patrol cars and signage. His lowball figure does not include any costs to private citizens and enterprise. Remember when Dover Twp. had a change of government and it cost the taxpayers $80,000 to update the township code by politically connected lawyers, well I’m sure there will be plenty of documents that will have to be updated by the township as well as private entities. Just think of all the documents that are pertaining to Dover Township used by the County, the Dover MUA.
   In a recent radio broadcast by talk show host Bob Levy, he suggested a very good idea. Since Mayor Brush and the Chamber of Commerce insist that it will only cost $16,000 to change the name, why don’t the Chamber offer to pay for the costs? Brilliant idea Bob! Since, according to the Chamber, the name change is going to save insider businessmen lots of money, why don’t they offer to pick up the tab? If the Chamber were to agree to pick up all the actual costs to the town as well as compensate any private entities for expenses incurred, I might even change my mind.