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No. 12
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
March 21 – 27, 2013
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
Fees at theKids Zone recre-
ation complex in Wayne have
been reduced to only $10 per
child, per month for unlimited
visits.
See page 4.
Robert Kerr, a member of
Boy Scout Troop 872, recently
completed his Eagle Project -
the final step to the rank of
EagleScout.
See page 4
.
Former Township Clerk Joe
Bridgman demanded an
accounting of money donated
to the fireworks and picnic
fund at the Plymouth
Township board meeting last
week.
See page 2.
The automated calling sys-
temused byNorthvilleDistrict
Schools has been abandoned
by the district due to ongoing
malfunctions with the soft-
ware.
See page 3.
Van Buren Township will
continue to provide emer-
gency dispatch and police
lock-up services for the City of
Belleville for another year
under a recently signed con-
tract.
See page 3.
Vol. 128, No. 12
Vol. 66, No. 12
Vol. 66, No. 12
Vol. 13, No. 12
Vol. 128, No. 12
Vol. 66, No. 12
Vol. 66, No. 12
Inkster police are still seek-
ing information in the active
investigation into the shooting
of three people earlier this
month.
See page 4.
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
James Meza, MD, a family
medicine and geriatrics physi-
cian based in Westland, was
honored with the Faculty
Award for Excellence in
Clinical Science Teaching
recently.
See page 4.
A four-hour meeting of the township clerk,
treasurer, supervisor and city attorney took
place last Thursday, apparently prompted by
questions asked during the regular meeting of
the Plymouth Township Board of Trustees
Tuesday.
That regular board meeting erupted into a
verbal melee prompted by questions from
TrusteeChuckCurmi.
Responses to Curmi's barrage of questions
were nonchalant or reasonably calm until he
reached the last item which concerned a
recent Affidavit Affecting Real Property filed
by City of Detroit Attorney Timothy Beckett
regarding 190-acres of land at the former
Detroit House of Corrections site. The land,
part of a 323-acre foreclosure sale by theWayne
County Treasurer's office, was purchased by
the township for about $606,000 in 2011,
financed with a loan from The Bank of Ann
Arbor. The land, however, was improperly
recorded in the township assessor's office
which prevented the correct owner, the City of
Detroit, fromever receiving a tax bill. The land
still belongs toDetroit, as state lawallows a tax-
payer who did not receive bills recourse to
reclaim the land and because municipal land
is not subject to tax foreclosure. The Plymouth
Township assessor's office erroneously listed
the 190-acre parcel as belonging to Demco 54,
the owner of the other 133 acres included in
the sale.
According to the affidavit, “The purported
foreclosure and conveyance of the publicly-
owned property by the Wayne County
Treasurer is void.”
Ironically, Curmi's questions came following
a 20-minute presentation by Township
Supervisor Richard Reaume about the asses-
sor's office and the procedures and policies of
that office. The supervisor is the chief assess-
ment officer of the township.
Board members appeared astonished at
Curmi's question and the loss of the property
while Reaume attempted to shrug it off,
according to audience members. During the
A 41-year-old woman was
killed in an earlymorning one-
car accident Sunday in Canton
Township when the vehicle
she was driving rolled over
and came to rest in a pond.
See page 3.
See
Land,
page 2
The city (Detroit) has never called
about an affidavit.
”
Rife with outdated equipment, maintenance
and safety issues, the Romulus Police
Department needs to be replaced.
Members of the Romulus City Council, along
with city administration, members of the Police
Fire and Safety Commission and staff of the
34th District Court met in a study session last
week to discuss the possibility of relocating the
police department and court building to a
shared campus with facilities that would serve
bothdepartments.
Officials toured the police department on
Olive Street to get a first-hand experience of the
many issues with the building-which is a con-
verted elementary school.
“We've done the best we could with what we
had,” said Police Chief Bob Dickerson. “We've
been creative with its use, but this facility no
longermeets our needs.”
On the tour, officials saw a lack of lobby
space for citizens and privacy for taking citizen
complaints. An officer hunched over, cleaning
his service weapon in the locker room because
there was no other place for him to do so. In a
conference, an officer without his own space
worked silently on a laptop computer.
The locker rooms, built more than 17 years
ago, were meant to handle a smaller staff. The
woman's locker room, designed for two officers,
nowserves five.
There are no public restrooms, and the rest-
rooms for the staff are woefully inadequate-
there are two toilets for the 40male officers and
one for the females. There are toilets in the
building that haven't worked in 17 years,
according to Ofc. Josh Monte, and other plumb-
ing issues abound.
“It's so old and antiquated that we can't even
fix it any more,” he said. “Nobody makes any of
the parts.”
The evidence rooms are in no better shape.
There are three cells in the holding area, each
about 6 feet by 8 feet, that are frequently over-
loaded. There is no room to house prisoners
with infectious diseases. The prisoner drop off
point itself is a safety concern, because it is not
an enclosed area. The parking lot is so cracked
and pitted that officers have filed workman's
compensation claims for injuries they've sus-
tainedwalking across it.
“It has outlived its use,” said Council
President Leroy Burcroff. Burcroff was in the
last class that attended the school. His father
went there, too.
Lack of space and safety issues were the top
concerns at the 34th District Court, said Judge
David Parrott. Built in 1977, the 25,000-square-
foot courthouse handled a caseload of about
13,000. The three judges saw 82,357 cases last
year.
The hallways are frequently packed with
defendants and walk-in traffic and there is no
place for jurors to wait before jury selection.
There is not enough space for counselors to
meet with clients prior to their cases, in ade-
quate restrooms andnot enough space, overall.
See
Police,
page 4
It has outlived its use.
Council President
Leroy Burcroff
”
Land dispute prompts trustee questions
Plymouth-Canton teachers settle contract
Vol. 13, No. 12
Members of the Plymouth
Canton Education Association
and the school district have
agreed to a new three-year con-
tract.
The agreement, ratified by the
union March 4, included no pay
increase for the teachers for the
first two years of the agreement.
Teacher's pay grade levels or
stepswill also remainunchanged
for the first two years.
The contract affects 1,100
teachers and will remain in
effect until after the 2014-15
school year.
The contract also reduces the
amount teachers are paid for
extra duties they perform at the
schools, such as meal or testing
oversight or supervision.
The district agreed to pay 100
percent of the union members'
premiums for dental and vision
insurance and will also offer
some less-expensive health care
options to the teachers, as a pro-
vision of the contract.
The union will be included in
the annual bid for insurance cov-
erage for the teachers according
to a clause agreed to by both
sides.
While wages will not increase
for the first two years of the
agreement, there is a clause that
allows for negotiations of a wage
increase for the third year. Those
negotiations are scheduled to
begin in March of next year. If no
agreement is reached before
Aug. 1, 2014, the district or the
union cannegate the contract.
Members of the Plymouth
Canton Community Schools
Board of Education agreed to the
contract last week by a 4-0 vote.
Board Secretary Adrienne Davis
and Trustee Mark Hovath were
absent from the meeting and
Trustee Mike Maloney abstained
from the vote as his wife is a
teacher in the district and affect-
edby the contract provisions.
Historic Westland district receives new street lighting
Vandals damage 87 new vehicles at Wayne dealership
Wayne police are still seeking
information in the extreme van-
dalism of new cars at Jack
Demmer Ford on Michigan
Avenue,
Police reports indicated that
87 vehicles, all parked on the new
car lot, were damaged between
the time the dealership closed
Feb. 23 until workers discovered
the vandalism in the morning of
Feb. 25. The lot is on the corner of
Michigan Avenue West and
NewburghRoad.
Various damage to the cars
was reported as deep scratches
on the hood, fenders, tailgates
and roofs. Five tires on various
vehicles were punctured some-
how and flattened. The dealer-
ship estimated the damages in
excess of $143,000.
A statement from Jack
Demmer Ford indicated that this
was not thework of an employee.
Police said that there are no
suspects in the incident as yet
and the investigation is continu-
ing. Anyone with information is
asked to call Wayne Police Det.
Kevin Schmidke at (734) 721-
1414.
The historic Annapolis Park sub-
division in Westland recently took a
step into the future.
The subdivision recently saw the
installation of newLED street lights,
according to Westland Mayor
WilliamF.Wild.
The new lights which replaced
older, incandescent street lights, will
not only provide greater visibility to
the residents of Annapolis Park but
will save the city an estimated $2,100
per year in electricity expenses,
Wild said.
Thirty new lights have been
installed with the new lighting fix-
tures, 103 watt Cobrahead LED as
opposed to the old 175 watt mercury
vapor lights,Wild said.
Funding for the $20,000 project
came from Energy Efficiency and
Conservation Block Grant funds and
DTE provided the labor at no cost to
the city or its residents, he added.
Wild indicated that this will be
the first use of LED energy efficient
technology for street lighting in
Westland and that this pilot project
will allow city administrators to
determine the extent of cost savings
before moving forward on larger
street lighting projects.
Romulus court, police need new quarters
Michael Meissen will apparently become the new superinten-
dent of thePlymouthCantonSchool district.
Meissen was among the five finalists interviewed for the job by
members of the board of education. He was reportedly offered the
job after another candidate dropped out of the running.
Meissen is currently the supervisor of school improvement and
student achievement for Milwaukee Public School in Milwaukee,
WI. He reportedly took that job after leaving the post as superin-
tended of Glenbard High School District 87 in Illinois which paid
$215,665 annually.
The board members voted 6-1 in favor of Meissen with trustee
AdrienneDavis casting the single no vote.
New superintendent chosen