JACKSON – Township Council members often applaud the community’s volunteers but during a recent meeting they took action to provide some incentives for those inclined to help others.
Councilman Alex Sauickie said he was happy to introduce Ordinance 20-22 which he explained was “an ordinance that provides an incentive program for certain volunteers. What this ordinance is going to do is to provide relief on town fees for those members of fire and EMS that volunteer for the town.
“This is an example of an ordinance that shows the Council is listening to the residents and I want to thank firefighter Ralph Aponte who approached me about a year ago with the idea behind this ordinance. After a lot of research and lot of help from our lead counsel Greg McGuckin we were able to put the right language together,” Sauickie added.
He further remarked “at a time when volunteering in those organizations is down roughly by 40 percent, this year, with the input of fire chiefs as well as the chief who heads Jackson’s EMS, all agreed that this is definitely something that would incentivize more volunteers for fire and EMS.”
“I certainly feel Council would agree this is a great way to reward in just a small way, those that volunteer and help keep us safe,” the councilman added.
Petitions ready for pickup
Deputy Clerk Mary Moss announced during the session that mayor and council petitions were available at the Township Clerk’s office from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Two council seats are up this year, those currently held by Council Vice President Andrew Kern and Councilman Alex Sauickie. Additionally, the mayoral seat is on the ballot. This is a position held by Mayor Michael Reina for over a decade.
Jackson Township’s form of government does not include a primary election for those elected offices but involves a petition to run for them with the campaign season starting in the fall.
Pulled Amendments
The councilman also referenced a recent article of The Jackson Times that referenced remarks he made during a prior council meeting regarding the World Health Organization and his concerns about what that agency was seeking to do this year.
Chisholm voiced his support for legislation that opposed plans of the WHO which would provide them additional authority.
The councilman noted that on June 1 the proposal to implement those plans were pulled. “Why? Because (President Joe) Biden knew 12 of these 13 amendments were going to be squashed so he pulled them from the international health regulations that would effectively hand over our member states’ ability to do our own response to public health crises and future pandemics to the WHO,” Chisholm added.
“Things fell through with several member states when Brazil, Iran, and Malasia objected to the inclusion of these new amendments,” Chisholm added.
He added, “when Iran objects, come on guys seriously, what did Biden have in his pocket? I will stand by my comments. Those communists should not be trusted. We should defund them take our money back and hold them all accountable.”
