The Alpena Township Board of Trustees is demonstrating that they are not only out of touch with their constituents but negligent in their duties.

Having no contingency plan except putting the same defeated proposal back on the ballot and hoping it passes with no plan on what to do if it doesn’t is guaranteed to make voters question the judgment of the board. Proposing a three percent millage that would raise $1.1 million per year after rejecting a proposal of $400,000 per year from the Alpena Fire Department made little sense the first time it was proposed and will make little sense in November.

The Trustees need to go back to the drawing board and at least explore alternatives, including further discussion with the city fire department, a more modest millage increase, or possibly a combination of both, before again trying to impose a large tax increase on residents who are already struggling with inflation.

I predict this proposal will lose by an even larger margin in November and also cause some elected officials to lose votes in upcoming elections.

MIKE McCLELLAN,

Alpena