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EWSPAPERS OF
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April 18, 2013
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managed and lovingly cared
for by Senior Village Management.
RET I REMENT COMMUNI TY | INDEPENDENT AND ASS I STED L I V ING
IndependenceVillage of Plymouth
14707 Northville Road, Plymouth, MI
South of 5 Mile Road
www.SeniorVillages.com
734-453-2600
There’s a bright, exciting world waiting for you at an Independence Village
community. Our residents tell us all the time how life has truly changed for
them since moving here — and for the better! We are cer tain that once
you tour our beautiful surroundings and meet our happy residents,
you’ll agree that this is the place to be. Come smile with us!
The grass is always greener on our side of the fence!
Greener!
Our grass is
always
R
OMULUS
- W
AYNE
Warm welcome
Romulus welcomes new SMART buses
Petitions to change Wayne City Charter will move forward
The City of Romulus and SMART cele-
brated the addition of two new buses and
one new van to the fleet of the Romulus
Senior Center during a ribbon-cutting cere-
mony last week. The new buses are replace-
ments to transport senior citizens to their
choice of destinations, allowing them a con-
tinued quality of life and freedom of inde-
pendence.
The ceremony was attended by dozens of
Romulus seniors, elected officials and
Senior Center Director Rose Swidan,
SMART Deputy General Manager of
Operations Jim Fetzer and other officials
from SMART, which is the Suburban
Mobility Authority for Regional
Transportation.
Romulus Mayor Alan R. Lambert said the
newvehicleswould allow the city to continue
to provide much-needed services to city sen-
iors. He praised Swidan and her staff for pro-
viding outstanding assistance, programs and
activities forRomulus' older residents.
“This is a great day for Romulus and a
great day for our seniors,” Mayor Lambert
said. “Our fleet was about 20 years old and in
need of repairs. Thanks to SMART for mak-
ing this possible.”
Through the SMART Community
Partnership Program, communities have
access to funding and SMART resources to
help operate local community transit pro-
grams. The program helps local municipali-
ties provide community transit programs for
their residents and supports a variety of tran-
sit needs, including operating expenses, bus
purchases, maintenance, loaner vehicles and
technical assistance to help communities
develop, design and operate service.
“SMART plays an important role with
communities like Romulus in supporting
their local transit programs for their resi-
dents, helping them get to medical appoint-
ments, work and school,” said SMART
GeneralManager JohnHertel.
The new vehicles at the Romulus Senior
Center came equipped with wheelchair lifts
to accommodate disabled passengers and
additional seating. The two new buses have
6.8-liter gasoline engines for better mileage
and feature a seat that converts and accom-
modates a baby car seat. The Senior Center
uses buses five days a week to transport
older adults and people with disabilities to
medical appointments, luncheons, monthly
excursions and other trips as needed.
“We are so blessed to have these new
buses,” said Swidan. “Without them, we
could not serve our community andwe thank
SMART for partneringwithus.”
Three petitions to amend the Wayne City
Charter will soon be circulating in the city in
an effort to get the proposals on the
November ballot.
Resident Ron Roberts met with Wayne
City Manager Robert English, Wayne City
Clerk Matt Miller and a lawyer from the city
attorney's office last week to clarify the pro-
posal language. Following the meeting,
Roberts said that he was misinformed about
the necessity of meeting with the city and
having the approval of the municipality
before proceeding with obtaining petition
signatures.
“We're going to move forward with print-
ing up the petitions and obtaining signa-
tures,” Robert said. He said he believes that
he and the other supporters of the initiatives
need about 670 signatures of Wayne resi-
dents, or 5 percent of the number of voters in
the last city election.
Roberts said that the petitions with the
collected signatures would then be sent to
the office of the attorney general before
being placed on the localWayne ballot.
The city has already taken the necessary
steps to have a proposal to amend the char-
ter to allow a four-year mayoral term on the
ballot, which could cause some confusion for
voters, Roberts said.
Roberts' first petition would change the
form of city government to a strong mayor
and cancel the current city manager opera-
tional system. A second petition would
impose term limits on any elected officials
allowing them to serve a cumulative 16 years
in public office and the third petition would
establish six geographic voting precincts
which would each elect one city council rep-
resentative fromspecific boundaries.
Current Mayor Al Haidous, who is seek-
ing re-election, would be affected byRoberts'
proposals as he has already served themaxi-
mum number of years as a member of city
council and asmayor.
The petition language proposed by
Roberts is:
VOTINGBYPRECINCT
“Shall Chapter 6, sections 6.1 - plan of gov-
ernment, 6.2 - Election of council, 6.3 -
Election of Mayor, and 6.4 of the Wayne City
Charter be amended to crate City Council
Representation by six (6) geographic wards,
specifically the current voting precincts;
combining precincts four (4) and five (5),
requiring residency as a condition of repre-
sentation for each, whereby abolishing the
current “at large” council representation.
Allowing only the office of Mayor to be an “at
large” electedpoison?
TERMLIMITS
Shall the Wayne City Charter, Chapter 6
be amended to provide that effective
January 1, 2014, all elected officials of the
City of Wayne (Mayor and Council persons)
be prohibited from seeking re-election if
they have served a cumulative of sixteen (16)
years of elective office between that of
Council and/or Mayor retroactive to all cur-
rent elected officials?
STRONGMAYOR
Shall the Wayne City Charter, Chapter 6,
section 6.1 be amended to abolish the
Council/Manager Form of Government that
currently exists, and adopt a Mayor/Council
formof government in its place?
Roberts said there may be a fourth peti-
tion added as one of the proposals needed
some clarification but he was not clear as to
the exact language on that petition.
Romulus officials and residents celebrated the newly acquired SMART buses last week at
the Romulus Senior Center. Mayor Alan R. Lambert, joined by city officials, officially cut the
ribbon on the new buses. Senior Center Director Rose Swidan, officials from SMART and
representatives of the Greater Romulus Chamber of Commerce were also on hand for the
celebration.