By SARIT LASCHINSKY

Special to The Press

At the beginning of the July 1 Upper Macungie board meeting, Supervisor Kathy Rader read a personal statement and shared her opinions regarding statements made on social media.

“I can no longer sit back and not address the travesty that has taken place in this township to our residents,” Rader said, referring to what she called the “distortion of facts” and “truth, or lack of truth,” posted on social media.

Rader addressed several posts and newspaper articles about the June 2 conditional use hearing for a proposed Sheetz at 951 Trexlertown Road, at which, despite a large amount of resident interest, there was almost no attendees.

The hearing situation also led to some criticism directed at the township for advertising the hearing on its Facebook page but not on the Upper Macungie website.

Rader said at the May 6 board meeting, which was livestreamed, supervisors had voted to set the hearing for 6 p.m. June 2.

She added meeting agendas, which included the Sheetz project, date back to January.

Additionally, in response to statements the hearing was not posted to the website, Rader said while meeting agendas are posted, “hearings, since they have no agenda, are not.”

She also said township staff decided that in addition to the township’s legal advertising obligation in the newspaper, information on the hearing would reach more residents if it was also advertised on the township Facebook page.

Furthermore, Rader said many residents had shown up at the May 19 planning commission meeting about Sheetz, and both Community Development Director Daren Martocci and Solicitor Andrew Schantz made note of the date for the conditional use hearing.

She said the township met its legal obligation by advertising the meeting date in The Parkland Press May 19 and May 26, and the advertisement on the township Facebook page received 1,300 hits and 18 interactions.

“After posting the conditional use hearing on the Upper Macungie Facebook page, advertising twice in The Parkland Press, announcing twice at the May planning commission meeting, posting the property, notifying by letter all adjoining property owners, only three people other than the Sheetz team appeared at the conditional use hearing on June 2,” she said.

Rader said several posts made by resident and Upper Macungie supervisor candidate Sunny Ghai on the Facebook group “Upper Macungie Residents for Smart Growth,” which is unaffiliated with the township, included incorrect information about livestreamed meetings and her statement that evening, as well as the status of land development plans and the review process for the Sheetz project.

“Residents have every right to be upset. What happened? The township did not drop the ball or provide any inaccurate information,” Rader said. “The process for Sheetz was repeatedly explained in great detail at every meeting. These inaccurate posts have made our staff, consultants and planning commission look bad even though they have been nothing but up front and helpful.”

She said residents should be upset with people “who provided wrong information on social media or elsewhere, and upon which they relied.”

Rader said posts on unaffiliated Facebook groups led to confusion, which led the township to release a Facebook statement summarizing and clarifying the history of meetings and hearings for the proposed Sheetz June 9.

She said residents can get information and have their questions answered by attending meetings, through official Upper Macungie social media pages, the township website or by phone, and any other information or sites could be “opinions, rumors, innuendo or incorrect.”

During the public comment period Ghai responded to Rader saying social media and groups like, Upper Macungie Residents for Smart Growth, provided “a service to the residents” providing information on meetings or hearings projects of interest like Sheetz, a proposed Rutters gas station and others.

“I would argue most people wouldn’t have known about those events without those kinds of notifications.”

Rader agreed, stating the group has many followers.

“And, I think that’s just great, but just be accurate,” Rader said.

Chairman James Brunell said Ghai was implying the township “didn’t do anything.”

“The outcome of any one of those [hearings] would be any different with or without that page,” Brunell said.

“When you’re saying the board isn’t doing what we should be doing, and now all of a sudden this is happening, that’s what’s frustrating to all of us here.

“Please just don’t make it seem like we’re not doing anything here.”

Ghai said he was not implying the board “didn’t do [its] job,” but merely stating how the Facebook group provides information to residents.

He said much of Rader’s statement about residential confusion was “immaterial” to the lack of attendance at the Sheetz hearing.

“I think if you talk to most people, the hearing that was not posted to the website is why most people were confused,” Ghai said.

He added a similar hearing for the proposed Rutters gas station, which has also drawn much resident interest, was also not posted to the township website.

He added if resident Diane Palmer had not found the information elsewhere and let residents know, people would have also missed that hearing like they did for Sheetz.

Palmer told the board she was one of the three people to attend the Sheetz hearing.

“There was nobody here, so I thought ‘OK, nobody knows about it; I better let everybody know,’” Palmer said.

She, however, was ultimately unsuccessful in informing residents in time.

Ghai said he welcomed a change to start posting information on township hearings to the Upper Macungie website.

This was discussed and approved by the board earlier that evening.

He said the move would alleviate a primary cause of confusion.

Rader said it was to her “shock and surprise” that almost nobody attended the Sheetz hearing, reiterating it was mentioned twice at the May planning commission hearing to a roomful of people.

“In fact, that’s what helped the decision of the staff to say ‘Hey, we should move this to the night before the board of supervisors meeting,’ because there’s a lot of people who want to speak,” Rader said.

Ghai said many people rely on the website because they might not remember every detail from meetings and might not get the newspaper.

He also noted the board has on numerous occasions directed residents to directly check the website for information.

Ghai thanked Brunell and Supervisor Sean Gill for making a motion that evening to investigate opportunities for livestreaming meetings, which he said would be beneficial for residents and board members alike, especially for hearings like Sheetz.

Ghai also pointed to several local municipalities including Lower Macungie, South Whitehall, Alburtis and Emmaus which have continued livestreaming meetings.

He suggested Upper Macungie speak to them to get information about the legality and options for streaming.

“I think the issues we had today about Sheetz, if it was recorded, if you could go back and review your notes,” Ghai said. “If you weren’t sure about the date you could go back in.

“If we can start publicizing on the website all the hearings and meetings, and if we can provide a little more detail on the meeting notices, it’s going to avoid a lot more confusion in the future, and ultimately that’s all that we want.

“You want good government, all of you. We do, too.”