Raisin township supervisor Jay Cavanaugh resigns

Raisin Township supervisor Jay Cavanaugh has sent a letter to township board members that he is resigning from his position as of March 30. Cavanaugh said he has sold his home and will be moving his family to the Ann Arbor area.

Cavanaugh said he doesn’t have any definitive plans to reenter into politics. He said he didn’t have anything negative to say about Raisin Township. 

“Raisin Township is really a hidden gem. It’s a wonderful place to live, but unfortunately, the politics had to play out the way it did,” Cavanaugh said.

Cavanaugh expressed frustration at the board for lack of accountability in the August 31, 2015 edition of the Tecumseh Herald. A published report questioned the lack of the township’s documentation during participation in the federal 1033 program, also known as the Military Surplus Program. Three hundred documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request displayed poor inventory documentation of the equipment at the township, with it being unclear if taxpayer dollars were used in the transfer, sale, retrieval or maintenance of those items.

The change of the township website from www.raisintownship.com to www.raisinchartertownship.com is also a deliberate move by the township to avoid being open with residents, Cavanaugh said in a telephone interview with the Herald on Thursday, March 17. “It made it difficult for people to find the website, so they don’t know when the meetings are taking place,” he said. “Now, with these second meetings on Monday mornings every month, they schedule them that way because they know people can’t show up. That’s when they do all the things they don’t want anyone to know about.”

Cavanaugh believes Raisin Township wants to keep business out of the eyes of voters and keep crucial details in the background. “For example, taking the elected supervisor and moving him out of the position as administrator by creating fictitious allegations, which were all proven to be false, and putting in a person who was not only not elected as supervisor, but removed as a trustee, is a slap in the face to the voters,” Cavanaugh said.

Cavanaugh was referring to superintendent Jim Palmer, who was appointed to the interim superintendent position with a 6-1 vote on May 12, 2015. 

Palmer ran as a write-in candidate for supervisor in November 2012, after serving as interim supervisor following the death of then-supervisor Carl Wagner, who died Oct. 9, 2012. Palmer had to step-down as trustee to become the interim supervisor. Wagner's name still appeared on the November 6, 2012 ballot together with challenger Cavanaugh. Palmer also decided to run for the position as a write-in candidate. Wagner, although deceased at the time of the election, received 1,241 to Cavanaugh's 1,081 votes.  Palmer collected 400 votes.

“The residents haven’t been given an opportunity to understand what’s going on,” Cavanaugh said. “But they have an opportunity this summer and fall during the elections to make some changes. Voters can put a government in there that truly represents them and is not out for individual interest.”

Attempts by the Herald to get a comment from Palmer were unsuccessful.

“My family and I have sacrificed our reputation for a better way of life in the township,” Cavanaugh said. “I am grateful for the support during the difficult times and wish all of you the greatest prosperity and happiness.”