LANCASTER TWP — The township’s first meeting of 2023 on Tuesday, Jan. 2, night, proved contentious.

At a routine organizational meeting, where supervisors reappointed C. Michael Foote, township manager, as roadmaster and Neva Stotler as borough solicitor, residents used the public comment period to question the staffing decisions.

“Mr. Foote here must be Superman, or at least you must think he is,” said resident John Myer. “You want to appoint him to everything, and then you want to make him roadmaster ... There is no way one person can do all that work — absolutely no way — and do it correctly.”

Tuesday night’s appointments have placed Foote to serve in four other positions besides roadmaster: township manager, secretary and treasurer, floodplain administrator and open records officer.

Myer asked for Foote’s experience supervising road work and if a pay raise would accompany the additional duties.

Supervisor Chairman Greg Kessler said there wouldn’t be any pay raise. Kessler said the township had just chosen a new roadmaster, but that he wasn’t ready to take the offer.

Foote said after the meeting that it’s common in smaller communities for one leader to take on multiple leadership roles.

The township manager was not the only figure whose tenure became a focal point for questions and scrutiny during the meeting.

“I also think that it’s ridiculous that we’re spending legal fees on the reviewing of invoices,” resident Michael Bupp said, referring to costs that have evolved from multiple open records lawsuits. “To me this should be public record. We should be able to look and see what Neva Stotler and other legal counsel are charging the township to determine if we’re spending money wisely. You’re not going to win most of these open records lawsuits.”

Resident Steve Pruskoswki asked the board why the township hadn’t advertised the position of borough solicitor, as it had agreed to do at a December meeting.

Kessler replied that the township would do this.

Supervisor Joe Plesniak said after the meeting he believed that Stotler, who was not at the meeting, planned to leave her position in March.

About 30 people attended the meeting, and many expressed disagreements with planned appointments.

The board appointed or reappointed leaders to serve in nine positions, ranging from engineer to treasurer. Also appointed were Gannet Fleming as township engineer, John Vagias as sewage enforcement officer and Seneca Area Emergency Management Agency as emergency management coordinator.

Plesniak said the disconnect between residents and the township likely result from growing pains. Development, while inevitable, has been reshaping the township, and that’s contributed to distrust about the choices leaders have been making, he said.

Another resident, Kelly Bender, asked township leaders for more information ahead of the meetings.

“I quite honestly am a little bit surprised at the voices that are being heard in the room on what seems to be deaf ears in the front of the room,” Bender said. “And I don’t quite understand — and I’m willing to understand — how the township meetings process works ... It does seem to me that there seems to be a disconnect to where peoples’ voices are being heard.”