Recently on Nextdoor we saw what looked like a scripted “dialogue” between the Village of Franklin’s highly paid PR representative Karen Couf Cohen and ex-president Jim Kochensparger. The gist of it was:
Kochensparger: As an ex-president I can tell you that the current charter amendment must be approved to add sidewalks on Franklin road
Cohen: So the charter must be changed for the people or villagers to put sidewalks there?
Kochensparger: Yes, even if the residents approved a ballot measure sidewalks could not be constructed
Issues with Our PR Pushing a False Narrative
Karen Couf Cohen was paid by the village to prepare “voter education materials” as part of her PR function.
This scripted looking “dialogue” was hopefully done by Cohen as a resident, or as member of connect franklin, but either way it is a huge issue for the village. Our PR representative should put out only approved messages related to the village, promoting misinformation even if done personally undermines our villages stance and ruins the messaging we paid for.
Why were these “facts” in the scripted dialog missing from the official village documentation?
The reason this false narrative was missing from the voter “education materials” was because it was not true, so had to be left out.
Since this message could not be included in the official voter education materials because it was not true, it appears our PR representative pushed this false narrative on social media in an effort to confuse and mislead voters.
Truthful Information About Charter
Village Charter Chapter XI Section 5
The Council shall not have the power to construct any new sidewalks in residential areas.
What Does This Mean?
This section of the charter simply restricts our village council from constructing sidewalks in residential areas. It does not place any restrictions on residents constructing sidewalks in residential areas.
There are no additional sections of the charter that would place additional restrictions on construction of sidewalks approved by residents.
Claiming sidewalks can’t be constructed in residential areas because council is prohibited from doing so is a non sequitur fallacy and they simply hope to confuse people to think they have to give up their right to get sidewalks.
How Can Sidewalks be Constructed in Residential Areas?
Sidewalks can be legally constructed in residential areas by having them approved by the village residents as a ballot measure. This would mean the residents are constructing the sidewalks and the village council simply has to propose a plan for approval on the ballot.
Residents can read the proposal and make the decision to construct the sidewalks or not based on the plan and costs by voting on the ballot proposal.
After approval by the residents the council simply acts as a general contractor managing the work and approving the payment of the bills.
Next Steps
We need the village to retract the misinformation our PR person publicized and have the “voter education materials” updated to become voter education materials instead of one-sided propaganda.
Village Council must:
- Admit the argument used is not factual
- Correct the voter education materials to include both sides of the issue
- Residents have the authority today to approve sidewalks
- The charter amendment transfers authority over sidewalks from residents to village council (along Franklin and 13 mile rd)
Franklin Villagers 