Penn Township residents have spoken.

They signed and passed around a petition; they showed up at the April meeting; and then they showed up yet again earlier this week when seeing a proposed ordinance again listed on their township’s agenda.

Supervisors of the southern Butler County township heard residents, and on Tuesday, May 13, voted to discontinue any further discussion and drop the ordinances, that were intended to address blighted structures and junk accumulation.

The petition, which circulated in April, argued that language within the ordinance could give the township broad powers, allowing the township to inspect homes that could possibly be deemed blighted, unsafe or surrounded by an accumulation of junk.

Residents clearly were not OK with the language. They showed up en masse, with vehicles lined to a nearby property and people packed into the township’s municipal building for the April meeting.

The May meeting had a smaller turnout, but still, residents — in a significant number — came out to make their voices heard.

That’s how it’s supposed to work. Residents speak up, and their elected leaders act on their behalf.

We applaud the residents who showed up to voice their opinion, and the supervisors who listened.

— TL