No. 33
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
August 24 – 30, 2017
w w w . a s s o c i a t e d n e w s p a p e r s . n e t
There are some unique
visitors expected in down-
town Wayne this fall and
Wayne Main Street is wel-
coming them wholehearted-
ly.
See page 4.
Residents in Northville
Township may not be aware
that they receive an extra
benefit from the highly-rated
fire protection services in
the community.
See page 5.
Vol. 132, No. 33
Vol. 70, No. 33
Vol. 70, No. 33
Vol. 17, No. 33
The City of Romulus
Public Safety Department is
now accepting applications
for the sixth Citizens
Academy Class - 2017 Fall
Session.
See page 6.
Vol. 132, No. 33
Vol. 70, No. 33
Vol. 70, No. 33
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
Westland police are seek-
ing a group of vandals
caught on surveillance cam-
eras destroying property
including vehicles, a home
and a barn in the city.
See page 2.
Area residents are invited
to step back in time and
experience a series of Civil
War era base ball games fea-
turing
the
Canton
Cornshuckers who take on
teams from throughout the
area.
See page 7
Vol. 17, No. 33
The Basketball Legends
of Inkster celebrated the
20th anniversary of the
organization this year with
the traditional free training
camps for young players.
See page 4.
Polytec, Inc, a German
company, will invest $2 mil-
lion in the technology park
located on Halyard between
Ridge and Beck roads in the
township.
See page 3.
Members of the Belleville
Rotary Club presented 60
smoke/carbon monoxide
detectors to Sumpter
Township for distribution,
primarily to low-income sen-
iors.
See page 6.
Contamination suspected at fire site
Water rates in Plymouth
Township have been increased
by 8 percent following approval
of the measure by a 5-2 vote of
members of the board of
trustees.
The new rates are an average
increase of $56.35 annually or
$14 every quarter, according to
Township Treasurer Mark
Clinton. Average township resi-
dential water bills are now esti-
mated at $992.16, based on a fee
of $10.20 per 1,000 gallons.
Trustees Bob Doroshewitz
and Jack Dempsey cast no votes
on the proposal while
Supervisor Kurt Heise, Clerk
Jerry Vorva, Clinton and
trustees Chuck Curmi and Gary
Heitman voted in favor of the
increase.
The new rate was called for
by Heise who told the board
members that the township
needs to increase the water-
sewer cash reserves that are
now at $4.2 million. The
reserves topped $10 million at
one time, officials said, and
helped defray any rate increas-
es for water and sewer services.
Heise also said that it was neces-
sary to impose an increase in
order to recoup the losses in the
fund as a result of the previous
administration lowering the
water-sewer rates by 5 percent
as an electionploy.
Dempsey said his no votewas
prompted by his need for more
data regarding the actual rev-
enue the township needed and
that he did not have enough
information on which to support
the ratehike.
Clinton had earlier proposed
a 5-percent rate hike based on
an analysis of rate increases
ranging from 5 to10 percent he
presented. He favored a 5-per-
cent increase but after discus-
sion, voted in favor of the 8 per-
cent proposed by Heise. He said
the 8 percent will generate the
$15.2 million in revenue neces-
sary to operate the water-sewer
system in the township, pay the
debt obligations and set aside
$1.5million for emergencies and
maintenance.
Heise said his concern was
based on his experience as a
Wayne County environmental
director and drain commission-
er.
“I've seen what happens
when government doesn't budg-
et for future needs,” he said.
“We don't want to get caught in
See
Water,
page 3
Township water rates hiked by 8 percent
Concerns about possible toxic
exposure have prompted local
fire department officials to order
testing of firefighters' gear for
carcinogens after a fire last
Wednesday at a DTE Energy
sub-station next door to the
Plymouth Cultural Center on
Farmer Street.
The gear will be tested for
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB)
which the Environmental
Protection Agency has classified
as a probable human carcino-
gen.
The fire left 4,000 city resi-
dents and businesses without
power, some only restored in the
early morning hours Friday as
DTE crews worked round-the-
clock. Power to downtown busi-
nesses on both Main and Forest
streets was interrupted until
Friday morning, grinding down-
townbusiness to a standstill.
Firefighters from Northville-
Plymouth, Plymouth Township
and Northville Township,
including a Western Wayne
County Fire Department Haz-
Mat team, were dispatched
about 8:30 p.m. Sept. 16, after
numerous callers reported hear-
ing popping noises and then
observing heavy black smoke
and flames shooting from the
area of the brick, slate-tiled
building that adjoins a large
structure of beams and trans-
formers. The sub-station is
owned by DTE Energy and func-
tions to regulate voltage for an
estimated 4,000 homes and busi-
nesses in the city.
According to DTE Executive
Director DistributionOperations
Ryan Stow, the substation, which
now must be totally rebuilt, con-
tained transformers, protection
and control equipment and cir-
cuit breakers to interrupt any
short circuits or overload condi-
tions that occur in the network.
Stow was reticent to give
specifics about the fire or the
size and character of the electri-
cal equipment stating, “It was a
failure in the sub-station the led
to the noise people heard.” His
only comment as to the cause of
the fire, which he said is still
under investigation, was that the
fire was “not related to an over-
load” and could have been
caused by “animal interference--
like a squirrel.”
Numerous fire-related inci-
dents like the one at the
Plymouth substation involving
electrical equipment can con-
tain polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCB) and are known to result in
widespread contamination of
buildings and structures, accord-
ing to the National Institute for
Occupation Safety and Health
See
Fire,
page 3
Don Howard
Staff Writer
Friday afternoon, workers in protective gear clean up up debris at the site of the fire and shoveled it into
sealed barrels clearly labeled as containing PCB, a known carcinogen.
Photo by Dave Willett
Flames shot into the sky during
the fire caught on camera by
Joey Richards, 10, a fifth-grade
student at Gallimore Element-
ary School who is an aspiring
vlogger with his own YouTube
channel (JoeBroMan123).
Heavy black smoke poured
from the DTE substation in
Plymouth last Wednesday night.
Photo by Guy Villet)
City of Wayne Councilman
Christopher Sanders is facing
the prospect of a voter recall
electionnext year.
Ron Roberts, acting as the
spokesman the Concerned
Citizens of Wayne group,
announced at a recent meeting
of the city council that the group
had filed six proposed petitions
for a recall of Sanders with the
Wayne County Board of
Elections Aug. 14. Roberts said
that the three-member panel
would approve the language of
only one of the petitions within
10 to 20 days of submission.
“I'd just rather not say what
the language is that was turned
in,” Roberts said. “Any language
not accepted by Wayne County,
we'll just keep quiet. The law
says that the language only has
to be factual, so I am sure one of
the petitionswill be approved.”
Roberts confirmed that
recall language was submitted
to the county against two other
sitting council members, but
declined to identify those offi-
cials.
“They need to get the mes-
sage that we are not happy with
them,”Roberts said.
Sanders, 48, who has served
on the city council since
November of 2015, said he
would rather not comment on
the petitions or the language as
he hadn't seen it and had no
idea what the claims or basis
might be.
Roberts said that citizens'
group would have 60 days after
approval of the language in the
recall petitions to gather 1,300
signatures of registered voters
in Wayne agreeing to put the
recall question on the ballot.
“With the legal restrictions,
which say it can't be less than 90
days after the signatures have
been accepted, it would be on
the ballot inNovember of 2018,”
he said.
Roberts added that should
the language of all six petitions
be rejected by Wayne County
officials, he will attempt to cor-
rect any missteps and re-file the
They need to get the
message that we are
not happy with them.
”
Wayne councilman could face recall vote
See
Recall,
page 4
