A
SSOCIATED
N
EWSPAPERS OF
M
ICHIGAN
P
AGE
5
May 26, 2016
I
NKSTER
- W
AYNE
- W
ESTLAND
Re-location of city veterans memorials planned
Inkster parade planned
Members of the Wayne City
Council may have approved the
$15.7 million 2016-2017 budget
last week, but a majority of them
are hoping to amend the docu-
ment. The budget was unani-
mously adopted on the third bal-
lot following a proposal from
Councilman
Christopher
Sanders that the city agree to
“enter into earnest discussion
with the city retirees within two
weeks as an act of good faith to
discuss the health care cost
issues” in the adopted agree-
ment. The budget as adopted
includes a provision requiring
retirees to pay 30 percent of their
health care premiums and has a
30 percent cap on the portion of
any increase the citywill pay.
John Zech, the retired city
manager who worked for Wayne
for 31 years, spoke to the council
prior to the adoption and urged
them to reconsider this portion
of the budget. Zech said that as a
city employee, he like many oth-
ers, was exempt from Social
Security contributions and
instead was subject to deduc-
tions for his pension. He said that
many of the retirees affected by
this increase would be severely
affected as the small city pension
they receive is their only source
of income.
For some of these people,
Zech said, this 30 percent could
behalf theirmonthly income.
Zech's remarks followed pleas
from other retirees who
explained the hardship this
would cause them. The retirees
stated that they were asking the
council and city only to live up to
the employment contracts under
which they had worked for
decades.
Zech suggested that a sliding
scale might be effective in allevi-
ating the hardship and would
have retirees paying an amount
commensurate with their
incomes. “I think its unfair. I
know we all have to help but
there should be a better way to
do it.”
Several members of the coun-
cil apparently shared the con-
cerns of the retirees who spoke
at themeeting.
The first two motions to
approve the budget failed with
Mayor Susan Rowe cautioning
the council members that an
intervention by the state could be
a possibility should they fail to
adopt a budget by the second
meeting inMay.
“That's fine, gentlemen,” she
said after the second 4-3 vote
against the adoption of the budg-
et. “Tomorrow I will make the
calls to the state.”
Councilman Ryan Gabriel
said during the discussion that
he could not vote in favor of the
budget as presented as the issue
was not just numbers. “These are
people,” he said, referring to the
retirees, “They have no more
earning potential.”
Councilman Richard Sutton
said he had serious reservations
about the budget, particularly a
$300,000 cut in firefighter over-
time which he said could elimi-
nate the Mutual Aid agreement
and place the city in a precarious
positionwithWestland.
Councilman Tom Porter said
the issue was the “hard cap” on
city health care contributions. He
said that the city has some diffi-
culty in hiring qualified appli-
cants now and had a problem
with what this budget would
mean to the future in the city.
Councilman JohnRhaesa said
that he had voted no on the last
four budgets and was not
opposed to a sliding scale but
that the city had to do what was
“right for the people working for
us today. It's embarrassing at this
point. There is no money. We will
be broke in December of 2017,”
he said. “We need to do this in
the best interest of the city going
forward.”
Rowe told the council mem-
bers and the assembled audi-
ence, many of whom were
retirees, that she “didn't want the
city to end up in state hands. We
have to pass a budget tonight,”
she said. “We can look at amend-
ments. We will look at all depart-
ments, but we can't continue to
function as we have.” She said
that with current state laws it will
take the city 20 years to return to
the revenue level they experi-
enced in 2009.
“There is nobody to help us
but the people who live here,”
she said.
Sanders said that he had pre-
viously been ready to support the
budget as he understood it was
an effort to “stave off” interven-
tion by the state in the form of an
emergency manager. He said he
agreed that the cut in firefighter
overtime “looked good on paper”
and the budget “stalls off state
intervention” he would not sup-
port the 30 percent increase or
the 30 percent cap on costs in
light of the impact on the
retirees.
Councilman Anthony Miller,
Rowe and Rhaesa cast affirma-
tive votes all three times the
budget question was called dur-
ing the meeting, while Sutton,
Porter, Miller and Sanders
opposed the budget motion dur-
ing the first two votes.
Following Sanders' suggestion
that a motion to approve negotia-
tions with the retirees prior to
approval of the budget, approval
fromthe council was unanimous.
No date for meeting with the
retireeswas provided.
In presenting the budget,
Brian Camiller of Plante Moran,
which serves as the outside city
finance officer, said, “You can't
generate enough income for your
expenses.”
The $1.5 million structural
deficit was met in the budget
with the use of $740,000 from the
Other Post Employment Benefits
fund and the use of $750,000 in
the fundbalance.
Camiller told the council
members and Rowe that the city
will run out of money before the
end of 2017.
The Westland Department of
Public Works building in
Westland seems a strange place
for a veteransmemorial.
But the small marker memo-
rializing POW/MIAs which was
formerly located between the old
city hall building on Ford Road
and the closed Bailey
Recreation Center remains in
the municipal building awaiting
a newhome.
Two other veterans memori-
als are also scheduled to be
moved from theFordRoad prop-
erty and installing them at the
memorial garden located behind
the William P. Faust Library has
been suggested to the city byRon
Schley.
Schley is a member of the
Westland Veterans Association
which developed and funded the
memorial garden. The memorial
garden includes a large center
memorial and paved walks to
coves containing engravedmark-
ers.
Westland Mayor William Wild
said that no decision has been
made about the memorials.
There has been a suggestion that
the large, covered Vietnam
Memorial be moved to the Bova
VFWPost. Other suggested loca-
tions include the Lions Club
Pavilion and the Farmers
Market Pavilion area in Tattan
Park.
Wild said that the POW/MIA
memorial is small enough to
move to the veterans garden
while the other two structures
are larger and would require
professional movers to transport
and reinstall.
Wild said that the city has
been assured that the large
memorials can bemoved when a
new location is finalized.
The 47th Memorial Day Parade in
Inkster this year will take a new route
through the city.
According to Sandra K. Watley, execu-
tive director of the Inkster Citizen Action
Network (ICAN) this will be first time in
recent years the parade will travel down
MichiganAvenue.
The Inkster Citizen Action Network
was originally established to address the
water rates in the city and hasmaintained
the group to focus on community issues or
to sponsor functions, such as the
Memorial Day Parade, Watley said.
Members of the group pay an annual $20
feeused to sponsor community initiatives.
This year, the parade route will travel
eastbound to Bayhan from Hamlin Drive
and proceed south on Bayhan to
Trowbridge and then east on Trowbridge
to Inkster CityHall.
For information, call (313) 408-4692.
For some of these people,
Zech said, this 30 percent
could be half their monthly income.
”
Budget OK includes plan to meet with retirees
