No. 03
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
Jan. 18 – 24, 2018
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
The Wayne Westland
Community Schools District
has named three newadmin-
istrators proposed by
Superintendent of Schools
ShelleyHolt.
See Page 5.
Tracey Emmanuel has
been named as the new
housing director for the City
of Northville and now man-
ages Allen Terrace senior
apartment complex.
See page 2.
Vol. 133, No. 03
Vol. 71, No. 03
Vol. 71, No. 03
Vol. 18, No. 03
The full-time elected offi-
cials in the City of Romulus
received a 2-percent raise
last week, when a motion to
reject it was defeated.
See page 4.
Vol. 133, No. 03
Vol. 71, No. 03
Vol. 71, No. 03
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
Members of the Westland
City Council have approved
the sale of the former
Hawthorne Valley Golf Club
property for $500,000.
See page 5.
Coyote sightings are on
the rise in Canton Township
and local officials have
issued a warning and safety
procedures to residents.
See page 3.
Vol. 18, No. 03
Mother's Food Pantry in
Inkster, part of The
Emergency Food Assistance
Program, is now open for
registered clients on
Thursdays.
See page 2.
The Plymouth Township
Board of Trustees adopted a
newpolicy to encourage resi-
dents to apply for positions
on township boards and
commissions.
See page 3.
Renowned genealogist
TonyBurroughs will speak at
the Ted Scott Campus of the
Wayne County Community
College District from 12:30
until 2:30 p.m. Feb. 4.
See page 4.
Grandiose plans for a $100
million development at the
upscale Plymouth Township
Golf Course at St. John's have
come to a screeching halt.
No official reason for the ter-
mination of the plan to construct
a luxury condominium develop-
ment on 175 acres on the
grounds of the golf course has
been released.
Last summer, township plan-
ners approved the plans of luxu-
ry homebuilder Toll Brothers
for the construction of a private,
gated community made up of
174 townhomes on a portion of
the golf course grounds located
at FiveMile andSheldonRoad.
The development, lauded
and publicized by the
Archdiocese of Detroit, which
owns the property, township offi-
cials, real-estate investors and
the builder, was touted as a boon
to the entire surrounding area
that could bring larger conven-
tions and bigger events to help
local commerce.
Engineering firm Anderson,
Eckstein andWestrick, Inc. com-
pleted traffic studies and sub-
mitted plans for four project
components. The 27-hole golf
course was to be reduced to 18
to make room for the new town-
homes. The 240 monastery
retreat rooms located in the for-
mer seminary structure were to
be converted to 120 luxury hotel
rooms connecting to the Inn at
St. Johns. Also planned was a
10,000-square foot commercial
office building at the southwest
3-acre section of the 175-acre
site.
Archdiocese of Detroit
Director of Communications
Ned McGrath refused comment
as did representatives of the
real estate developer, Toll
Brothers.
“We're not moving forward
with the sale, it's been deferred,”
saidMcGrath. “The board
(members of the board of
directors) wants more research,
See
Project,
page 3
We're not moving forward
with the sale, it's been deferred.
Director of Communications
Ned McGrath
”
Petitions seeking a recall
election for Wayne City
Councilman
Christopher
Sanders have been determined
deficient under state law by the
county elections commission.
Sanders' attorney John Pirich
filed the challengewith the com-
mission last week noting that the
petitions were defective
because “none of the recall peti-
tions comply with the mandato-
ry language of MCL 168 544 c
(1).” The petitions used by those
collecting signatures in support
of a ballot question to recall
Sanders do not contain the
required language indicating
whether the “circulator is not a
Michigan resident” and that the
“circulator accepts Michigan
jurisdiction for purposes of liti-
gation.”
In his seven-page filing of the
discrepancy with the elections
commission on Sanders' behalf,
Pirich argued that the language
was mandatory and that sub-
stantial compliance was not an
option.
Bob Boertje, the primary cir-
culator of the recall petition
effort, was notified of the chal-
lenge and had until last
Wednesday, Jan. 10, to respond
to the arguments. He submitted
a handwritten response to the
elections commission which
ignored Pirich's arguments and
failed to address the claimed
deficiency in any way. Boertje's
response detailed only that the
language stating the reason for
the recall was approved by the
elections commission and that
1,390 signatures had been deter-
mined valid byWayne City Clerk
Matt Miller. Neither of those
issues had been challenged in
Pirich's filing.
Boertje's failure to respond to
the substance of the challenge
resulted in an official notifica-
tion from Wayne County Clerk
Cathy M. Garrett the same day,
Jan. 10, stating that she was
“without authority to issue a
Call for Election due to the peti-
tion not complying with MCL
168.544c (1).”
The petitions used to collect
signatures did not contain a
change in the required form
adopted in 2014, following a
court case. Pirich cited that
change in the law and the fail-
ure of the petitioners to use the
correct form in his challenge.
The petitions used were report-
edly provided to the recall group
by the office of the Wayne
County Clerk, although that
issue was not addressed in
Boertje’s response.
Boertje said the decision of
the commission was “pretty
stunning.”
“We had the signatures vali-
dated. The decision left us a bit
sunned.”
He said that the group sup-
porting the recall would be
meeting during the next few
days to decide on a course of
action in light of the decision.
“It's not going to go away,”
Boertje said.
Sanders said that he was
obviously pleased with the deci-
sion, but that he certainly did
not feel vindicated.
“This has been a humbling
experience,” Sanders said.
“Obviously, there was a message
forme in this ordeal that has not
gone unnoticed. The disen-
chantment of voters who signed
those petitions is a message that
I heard clearly.
“The voters, after all, are the
reason we are all here. I am
going to work very, very hard to
prove that I have the best inter-
est of the entire community in
mind with every vote I make
and every issuewe discuss.
“I know why I was elected
and that is to serve the best
interests of the residents of this
city. That's my sole motivation
and my actions will continue to
prove that fact despite the gos-
sip and rumors that have
become such popular entertain-
ment lately.”
Don Howard
Staff Writer
When he was elected as
Romulus mayor four years ago,
one of the first things LeRoy
Burcroff did was hold visioning
sessions with the community to
develop priorities for his admin-
istration.
The sessions identified four
major goals: to grow the econo-
my, enhance the local image,
improve the infrastructure and
enhance recreational opportu-
nities. He and his staff have
been able to put checkmarks by
each of those goals, he told an
assembled crowd during his
State of the City address last
week.
“We're making accomplish-
ments; we're getting things
done,” he told the audience of
Romulus residents and business
leaders, along with officials
from neighboring communities,
Wayne County and the State of
Michigan.
With major developments on
the way, a revitalized parks and
recreation department, a plan
to address community gateways
and more planned road
improvement projects, he said
'TeamRomulus' is ready to build
on their successes in 2018.
“My job is tomake surewe go
toward that vision, but you need
someone behind you to make
sure that happens,” he said. “A
strong team can take any vision
and turn it into reality. With the
right people you can get any-
thing done.”
He started the State of the
City address with a video show-
ing him passing by three major
developments on theway to give
his address: the Mopar facility,
Penske and, of course, the
Amazon distribution center
scheduled to open this year.
“Since I've been in this city,
this development has gone
faster and more furious than
anything that I can remember,”
He said. “I'm really excited
about those 1,600 jobs.”
He pointed to the four main
parks that have been renamed
and reopened since he took
office: Elmer Johnson,
Fernandez
Community,
Oakbrook Neighborhood, St.
John's Lodge Community, all
with no new tax revenue dog
parks.
He instituted traveling staff
meetings, where city leaders
went to Romulus businesses to
talk about their plans and build
up a rapport with leaders.
“It wasn't just to see how they
do business,” he said. “We invit-
ed people in to our meetings so
they could see how we do busi-
ness.”
Heworked to improve collab-
oration between other commu-
nities, including an automatic
mutual aid agreement from the
MetroAirport FireDepartment
Most recently, he and staff
were able to upgrade the city
bond rating by making a presen-
tation to the Standard & Poor's
Bond Rating Agency. The
improvement, from A+ to AA-,
will have long-reaching positive
effects for the city and taxpay-
ers, according to Michael
Gormely, senior vice president
of public finance for
Hutchinson, Shockey, Erley &
Co., when it comes time to sell
bonds for improvement proj-
ects.
“It's a huge coup for the city
to accomplish. The higher that
rating goes, the lower the bor-
rowing cost goes,” Gormely said.
“Over the life of those bonds,
there's going to be tens of thou-
sands of dollars in interest cost
saved to city residents. You
should take a lot of pride that
the city, both politically and
administratively, is moving in
the right direction.”
State of the City
Romulus mayor reveals year of accomplishment
Obviously, there was
a message for me in
this ordeal that has not gone unnoticed.
”
Wayne recall petitions are disallowed
Councilman
Christopher Sanders
See
Address,
page 4
LeRoy Burcroff
$100 million St. Johns project halted
