The Slippery Rock Township supervisors have erred in not requiring that a developer's plans be revealed to township residents before agreeing to schedule a public hearing regarding 43 acres north of Kiester Road.

Before such a proceeding, township residents should have adequate opportunity to ponder the proposal and form opinions on it — whatever it is — and decide what questions they might want to ask during the hearing.

None of that seems possible at this juncture.

The hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the township building.

Township residents are justified in being suspicious over the reason for the secrecy — and are justified in being angry that their elected township leaders have allowed themselves to become party to that secrecy.

What is known is that the proposal involves a "planned residential community" being proposed by Kiebler, Smith and Co. of Chardon, Ohio.

Township supervisor John Hines said the townhip has received some project documents from the developer, but those documents have not been reviewed — or even opened — because the plans are not yet official with the township. He said he assumes that after the hearing the developer will officially submit the proposal. But no hearing seems justified until a proposal becomes official.

Therefore, no decision should be rendered until after the supervisors schedule a second public hearing affording the public adequate opportunty to comment. Or, perhaps, the supervisors could merely continue Monday's session to some future date.

Anytime secrecy in government prevails, the public has grounds for being concerned. This instance is no exception. The supervisors should rethink their handling of this matter.