Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

Tyrone Township's Board of Trustees voted Tuesday to censure Supervisor Greg Carnes, along with Trustees Dean Haase and Chris Ropeta, over a letter accusing some Planning Commission members of "nonfeasance."

"After I delivered the letter to each of the members, I realized that wasn't the best way to get my goals accomplished," Carnes admitted during Tuesday night's meeting. "I asked them to destroy the letter and make it null and void. My intention was not intimidation, but merely to hold the members accountable to the township residents."

"If you vote for this, you're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong, wrong, wrong. Because you don't know me. You don't really know who I am," he added.

Other trustees took issue with the optics of possibly violating Michigan's Open Meetings Act, on top of using language in the letter implicating the board as a whole.

Trustee Ropeta and his wife took turns taking shots at Trustee Sarah Dollman-Jersey, who had explained the proposed censures to WHMI News ahead of Tuesday's meeting.

"These resolutions were not only published in the meeting packet, but Trustee Dollman-Jersey found it necessary to appear on local radio programs to discuss the particulars of these items and these resolutions for censure, on local radio, before the review took place," said Trustee Ropeta.

"Is it appropriate for a board member to go on public radio and discuss her fellow board members, and disparage them?" asked Jeannette Ropeta, who defended her husband, Haase and Carnes.

She went on to describe the letter as "overblown."

"This is us against us," argued one resident. "Stop acting like children. We have to think about other people who are coming to our township."

A censure is considered a formal reprimand, allowing further action if needed.

Tuesday's Board of Trustees meeting and agenda are linked below.