East Bay township's embattled treasurer, Deborah Watson, is seeking a change of venue for upcoming trial on neglect of duty charges. According to this Record-Eagle story, Watson believes she cannot get a fair trial in Grand Traverse County because of all the negative publicity surrounding her involvement in the East Bay township accounting scandals.

Watson's trial is an important one because it turns on the question of the fiduciary responsibility of township officials to monitor abuses like those charged to convicted East Bay clerk Jan Gee. As this earlier Record-Eagle piece describes, some area townships have learned a lesson from the East Bay fiasco and are considering how to improve their audit and other procedures to make sure it doesn't happen on their watch. Others (including, predictably, Elmwood township) have indicated that they have no intention of reforming their procedures--after all, they haven't had a disaster yet!