CENTER TWP — Former township supervisor Beverly Schenck spent 20 minutes at Wednesday's supervisors meeting complaining to supervisors for what she claims is their loss of control over the streets department resulting in wasteful spending.

“This board has not lived up to its duties as supervisors. This board has let one man, unelected, take complete control of (the roadmaster) job,” Schenck alleged, referring to township roadmaster Mark Lauer, whose hire she approved in 1998.

Schenck said the township is exposing itself to liability and robbing taxpayers of services they paid for by allowing township employees who serve as volunteer firefighters, Lauer and public works employee Greg Brewster, who is the chief of the Unionville Volunteer Fire Company, to respond to fire calls while on the township's time.

She said that according to public records in 2011 neither Lauer or Brewster's time cards showed any time taken off for the hours they spent responding to emergencies on behalf of the fire department.

Township solicitor Michael Gallagher defended the supervisors even before they defended themselves.

“It was a legislative decision, made weighing the potential benefits and negatives for the residents of the township, after your time on the board,” he said curtly about the two men responding to emergencies.

Gallagher called Schenck a boor, saying that in her regular appearances before the supervisors she resorts to accusations of lying and name-calling when the supervisors' actions or responses fail to appease her.

Supervisor Chairman Ron Flatt told Schenck that “Mr. Lauer has the trust of this board. You have had a personal issue with him for a decade.”

Flatt added, “The safety of our residents is the paramount issue. He does that job very well.”

He said that residents “routinely praise” the efficacy of the township public works department.

Schenck also said the board's hire in December of three part-time public works employees to fill in for one of the six full-time employees who is unable to work for medical reasons is a waste of money and done in clandestine fashion.

Freedom of Information Act paperwork she filed in January states the township cannot locate applications for the three men hired.

“Their hire date is the same as the application date. They started work before the board even approved their hire,” Schenck said.

Flatt assured Schenck he would look into the claim.

She took her final shot at the public works departments over its split work shift system, implemented this winter. Instead of one, eight-hour shift for employees, two shifts are used: a 4 a.m.-to-noon shift and a noon-to-8 p.m. shift.

Schenck claimed that since several hours of both shifts take place when it is dark outside, those hours are wasted taxpayer dollars and are “non-productive.”

“How many times can you clean the floor or maintain equipment during those hours in the winter,” she said.

She estimated the cost of those “non-productive” hours to taxpayers at about $62,000 between December and March. The average cost of overtime in the township, in contrast, has been $20,000 to $27,000 each winter since 2007, according to Schenck.

“It's about time you stood up and took control of your road department,” She said.

Referring to two-shift setup, Flatt said, “Your labeling of non-productive work time is an opinion, whether or not it may be accurate.

“We will not know how the schedule change affects costs until the end of the winter season. At that point, we will have evidence, rather than speculation.”

At the supervisors' December meeting, Schenck voiced similar complaints when the supervisors approved the $1.51 million 2012 township budget with a 2.64 mill property tax increase.

She decried the personal use of township vehicles by the roadmaster and the zoning officer, and the entitlement of supervisors to free health care, which is extended to their families.

She also raised those points again at the January meeting.