We just wanted to share a summary of what happened during the last Union County Board of Commissioners meeting on April 13th.
First none of the Commissioners could honestly say they have read comments from the residents of Union County either on the County's social media posts about the seal or under the petition.
None of the Commissioners will answer the question of how much changing the seal will cost the taxpayers. Commissioner Granados repeated what he said during March 30th meeting that it will be a gradual change.
None of the Commissioners would answer, who was hired to design the two proposed seal options or how much taxpayer money was spent on designing them.
During the meeting on March 30th Commissioner Kowalski mentioned that there has been talk about changing the seal for the past 20 years. None of the Commissioners could answer why they attempted to copyright the seal 12 years ago and then entered into a lawsuit over the seal which ended up costing Union County $40,000 after losing the case.
When asked why the current seal was not an option on the vote for the seal the county issued Commissioners Williams said it was because the Commissioners want "progress." The Commissioners' "visual progress" should not come at the cost of the taxpayers or our history. That money can be better used to facilitate actual progress elsewhere in Union County.
Commissioner Williams stressed the point that Commissioner Granados had previously stated, that you don't go to memorials for Abraham Lincoln, MLK, or JFK and see them being murdered. We would like to ask the Commissioners where is Hannah's memorial? Is it her gravestone which is so worn you can barely read her name?
It was brought up that our petition, which is open worldwide, only had 1,800 signatures while their vote for the seal had 5,000 votes and is only open to residents of Union County. This however is not the case. Since the vote was first posted and as recently as yesterday, April 19, their vote for the seal is open to people worldwide. Change.org does not allow you to limit who has access to your petition although it is set to a local campaign. The vote for the seal site was created by the County and therefore able to be set up in whatever way they chose.
In addition to this, the County has sent their Vote for the Seal poll to the schools and are having each child in class cast their vote for the seal. We obviously cannot do the same with our petition so of course the numbers won't be the same. Vice Chairwoman Palmieri-Mouded shared that her children came home from school very excited after learning about the new seals and voting for them in class. Is this because the new seals are engaging to students or because it was turned into a lesson that students are required to participate in?
Vice Chairwoman Palmieri-Mouded did point out that her children never commented on the current seal. This proves the point that current seal is not harming or upsetting to young children a concern Commissioner Granados has previously expressed.
The next Commissioners' meeting will be Thursday, April 27th at 6 pm if you can attend please come and let the Commissioners hear from you. Although the County motto is "We're connected to you" the Commissioners have proved they don't want to be connected to us unless we agree with them. All residents of Union County deserve a voice and an unbiased vote about what happens in our County. Please also continue to share the petition and let people know about the Commissioners' plans.