Article posted with permission of the Brooklyn Exponent

In his email to Francis, Dame responded to other allegations adding, “Jan Corwin recorded the meeting, and I allowed it, because I believe in transparency. I encouraged those in attendance to be vocal when they both agreed and disagreed with the Board regarding township decisions.

You (Francis) should have listened to the recording before you perpetrated your baseless attacks. You mention the need for “truth and honesty in reporting” but where is the ethical behavior and truth in your false accusations?

The Norvell Township Ethics Policy does not and cannot prevent an elected official from holding public forums, because the Board simply does not have the legal authority to do so."

So why would the Deputy Clerk Francis make such baseless attacks in the public forum against a departing elected official who recently resigned? Perhaps the timing of her article offers a reason. She requested that her LTE be published in the 8/22/23 Exponent, and her husband, now Trustee Paul Francis, was appointed to serve the remainder of Dame's term as Trustee a few weeks later. Coincidence?

Deputy Clerk Francis had ample opportunity to correct the public record and to date, she has not done so. Are higher powers in Norvell Township government keeping her from doing so?

| Norvell Township Legal Counsel Reply to Complaint |

It also appears as though Deputy Clerk Francis wrote and sent the LTE to the Exponent while on the Norvell Township dime. The document she submitted was created on Friday, 8/18/23 at 8:31am. The total editing time was 43 Minutes and the email was sent from the Deputy Clerk's personal email address to the Exponent at 9:21am. Might her time be better spent serving the people of Norvell Township, the same people who pay her wage?

Ms. Francis pointed out that Dame voted against the ‘Ethics Policy’ in 2017, at a meeting she did not even attend, so how could she understand the context? Dame explained at that meeting, and reiterated at the 1/10/24 Norvell Township Board Meeting during public comment, "I still believe in ‘due process’. In the U.S.A. we believe the accused is ‘innocent until proven guilty’."

Dame believes presumption of innocence is a fundamental principle of justice and the cornerstone of ‘due process’. The Ethics Policy that passed does not specify procedures for the accused to have their ‘day in court’.

During public comment at the January 10, 2024 Norvell Township Board Meeting, Dame said, "I do want to make one clarification now. A statement she made in her letter, was that I voted against the Ethics Policy. This is true. As I stated in my email to her, the reason I voted against the Ethics Policy is because there is no “due process’ clause in the policy. I firmly believe, that in The United States of America, we are innocent until proven guilty.

Without a comprehensive “due process” clause clearly stated in the ethics policy, I could not support it. I didn’t want to leave someone’s innocence or guilt in the hands of a vindictive Supervisor, or a vindictive Board.

I hope that the process used is fair, is just, and if so, gets incorporated into the Norvell Township Ethics Policy.

A violation of any Township Policy is a serious matter, and violations must be addressed. Thank you."

Francis added the following in her LTE, “So much for truth and honesty in reporting.” One could ask, "What about truth and honesty in a letter to the editor?"

A point of hypocrisy regarding Deputy Clerk Francis and her being the transcriber of the monthly board minutes. In the minutes of the 01/10/24 board meeting, she stated that Matt Dame made a public comment pertaining to the filing of an Ethics Policy Violation Complaint, but she failed to mention that the complaint was filed against her. So much for truth an honesty in transcribing board minutes.