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SSOCIATED
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EWSPAPERS OF
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ICHIGAN
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May 9, 2013
C
ANTON
- P
LYMOUTH
- N
ORTHVILLE
Library award presentation planned in Canton
Northville school board OK’s 4 union contracts
Canton Township Supervisor
Phil LaJoy has an important date
tomorrow.
LaJoy will be at the Canton
Public Library to accept the
$10,000
LibraryAware
Community Award from Library
Journal andEBSCONoveList.
The presentation and celebra-
tion is planned from6:60-8:30 and
the public is welcome at the
event. LaJoy will accept a plaque
from Library Journal publisher
Ian Singer, and EBSCO NoveList
Vice President Duncan Smith
will present the Canton Public
Library staff with the $10,000
award.
The award was created to
honor a library for “getting out to
the community and demonstrat-
ing its value” and to highlight a
community that values its library,
said Nancy Dowd, product lead
for LibraryAware, who will also
be in attendance.
“Receiving this award is a vali-
dation of our efforts to connect
our community and we are hon-
ored to be chosen,” said library
director Eva Davis. “Our staff
works very hard to knowour com-
munity and increase the quality
of life of our patrons. We hope
that our community joins us to
celebrate.”
The Canton Public Library
was chosen over about 100 other
applicants and impressed the
judges with its ability to work
with many community agencies,
organizations and businesses
while maintaining a strong focus
on literacy. Other finalists include
the Skokie Public Library in
Skokie, IL and Hartford Public
Library in Hartford, CT, who will
receive $7,500 and $5,000 respec-
tively.
The event will include light
refreshments and will feature
many of the library's community
partners.
The library is located at 1200 S.
CantonCenterRoad, inCanton.
Contract agreements with four of the
employee unions have been approved by
members of the Northville Board of
Education.
Two-year agreements have been signed
with the union that represents school admin-
istrators, central office administrators, office
support personnel and early childhood edu-
cation and extended day program employ-
ees. The contracts include a continuation of
unpaid furlough days and frozen step
increases in exchange for partial restoration
of wage concessions previously taken by
employees.
“The agreements reflect a true collabora-
tion balancing the mutual desire to increase
pay for employees who accepted significant
concessions two years ago against the harsh
reality of flat and uncertain revenues from
the state and unpredictable employee retire-
ment costs,” said Northville Board of
EducationPresident KennethRoth.
The four agreements, which cover the
2013-14 and 2014-15 school years, provide a
1.75 percent wage increase for central office,
district and school administrators, a partial
restoration of the 4-percent wage reduction
taken by employees in the previous contract.
Office support personnel and early child-
hood education and extended day program
employees will receive a 1-percent wage
increase following a wage freeze for these
two groups in the previous contract. There
will be no step raises for eligible employees
in these groups during the two years of the
contracts. Additionally, the two unpaid fur-
lough days per school year bargained into
the previous contracts will continue under
the newagreements.
All four of the agreements also include
changes in the district's health care plan,
including a new prescription drug co-pay,
which applies after the high-deductible is
met. In addition, instead of paying 20 per-
cent of the health care premium, employees
will now pay all costs that exceed the Public
Act 152 “hard cap” amounts set by the
Michigan Department of Treasury for family,
two-person and individual health care cover-
age.
“On behalf of the Northville Board of
Education, I want to express our sincere
appreciation to the district's central office,
district and school administrators, office sup-
port personnel and early childhood educa-
tion and extended day program employees
for their continued willingness to take action
to help protect the financial stability of our
district during these challenging and unpre-
dictable economic times,”Roth said.
Velveteen Rabbit
Spotlight on Youth Theatre will present The Velveteen
Rabbit in the Biltmore Studio at the Village Theater at
Cherry Hill at 7 tonight and tomorrow and again at 2 and
7 p.m. on Sunday, May 11. Each of the 100 seats gives
the audience a feeling of being up close and part of the
action. The theater is located at 50400 Cherry Hill Road
in Canton. The Village Theater has free parking, is handi-
cap accessible and has a concession stand. Tickets can
be purchased by phone at (734) 394-5300 or (734) 394-
5460 or online at www.canton-mi.org/villagetheater or
wwwspotlightplayersmi.org or in person at The Summit
on the Park or at the door. FOR MORE INFORMATION
about
Spotl ight
on
Youth
visit:
www.spotlightplayersmi.org.
entire 323-acre parcel was purchased
by Plymouth Township from the coun-
ty with only a quit claim deed. There
has been no explanation from town-
ship officials as to the reason for not
seeking a warranty deed on the prop-
erty at the time of the sale.
Also named as defendants in the
suit are the Wayne County Treasurer's
Office and Wayne County Treasurer
RaymondWojtowicz.
Wojtowicz, through spokesperson
David Szymanski, a deputy treasurer,
has remained adamant that the issue
must be settled between the City of
Detroit andPlymouthTownship.
“Our response hasn't changed. We
proceeded on information provided to
us byPlymouthTownship.”
Detroit has also filed a second, sep-
arate action against the Wayne County
Treasurer's office seeking monetary
damages as a result of the foreclosure
sale.
Land
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