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A SSOCIATED N EWSPAPERS OF M ICHIGAN P AGE 4 J ULY 14, 2011 W AYNE - W ESTLAND

City manager title now official in Wayne

William Brooks dies Fire department

purchases get OK

Robert English is still acting as the city manager of Wayne, but he is no longer the acting citymanager. City council members voted unanimously earlier this month to remove the interim title and grant himthe job on an official basis. “Whenhe started therewere a lot of question marks, but they were good questions,” said Wayne Mayor Al Haidous. “But through his per-formance and the results on many different issues in the city, he's built an excellent reputation.”

English has worked for the City of Wayne for more than 27 years in var-ious capacities. He came up through

the ranks in the Public Works Department and has also been the director of human resources and assistant city manager. He's served as interimmanager since John Zech retired in December; his first week in office coincided with the explo-sion at theWilliamFranks Furniture store onWayneRoad.

Since then, the challenges have been less dramatic but just as diffi-cult. English steered the city through a difficult budget process that nonetheless resulted in a two-year budget cycle that will see the highest undesignated fund balance in recent history at the end of 2013.

The city has also entered into part-nerships with other communities, including a joint dispatch operation with Garden City and the Neighborhood Acceptance Plan, in which Wayne and Westland partner to provide recreation services to res-idents of both communities at regu-lar resident rates.

“We hope to continue to work with him at the same level,” said Haidous.

Councilwoman PamDobrowolski was one of two council members who wanted to go out for a search for a new city manager rather than appoint English last year. She said

he's since convinced her that he can do the job.

“I do have to say that I've been impressed with his actions here in the city and what he's done here,” saidDobrowolski. “He keeps us very well informed. I think we're more informed now than we have been. I'min full support.”

English has won over some city critics, too. Ron Roberts said he did not like the process the city used, but agreed that English has done a good job during his brief time at the top spot.

An attempt to fill one of English's previous roles-as personnel direc-

tor-fell temporarily short at the council meeting Tuesday night. English had proposed hiring current city councilman Mathew Mullholland, who has a bachelor's degree in human resources, to the role pending successful completion of the pre-employment tests. Mulholland said he would have stepped down from the council to accept the role, but the issue was tableduntil Aug. 16.

Haidous said English would con-tinue to work under his current con-tract.

“We have to evaluate him after one year on the job,” saidHaidous.

The voice of the Wayne Memorial Zebras has gone silent. William ‘Blue’ Brooks, the long-time announcer at varsity football and basketball games for Wayne Memorial High School, died July 6. Hewas 82.

“He was very special to Wayne Memorial High School,” said School Principal ValerieOrr. “He was a good man,” added Greg Baracy, superintendent of the Wayne-Westland Community School District. “He left a great legacy.”

As the official high school athlet-ics announcer, Mr. Brooks never missed a boys' or girls' varsity bas-ketball or football game since 1972-ironic for a personwho attended as many as 13 different elementary schools as a child, because his father worked for an oil company and frequently had to relocate. The family finally settled in Standish,

where he graduated from high school in 1946. A big man, he played football and basketball in high school and in the U.S. Army. Later, he raced stock cars.

Mr. Brooks earned a bachelor's, a master's and specialist degrees in English and education from Eastern Michigan University. He was teaching English at Marshall Middle School when then-athletic director Bill Hawley recruited him to be the announcer for Wayne Memorial games. Mr. Brooks was announcing middle school games at the time.

He began teaching English at the high school in 1974 and retired in 1995, but he never truly stopped. Even last year, he was available as a substitute teacher.

Mr. Brooks was remembered as a prodigious story-teller, for his elo-quence and for being tough but fair withhis students.

“He was the best,” said John Colligan, former Wayne Police Chief who was also active with the Wayne Memorial Zebras football team. “He reached somany kids.” Mr. Brooks was a former volun-teer of the year who counted among his possessions a signed microphone and hand-written note fromErnieHarwell, congratulating

William ‘Blue’ Brooks,

Westland City Council members have approved the purchase of newradios and a newheavy rescue ambulance for the fire department. Council members accepted a bid fromComSource Inc. for onsite Motorola radios for the fire depart-ment which will be funded by $14,688.50 from the Federal Emergency Management Association grant the city received earlier this year. The grant was administered by the Homeland SecurityDepartment.

“The state has required that all communities comply with the nar-rowbandingmandate by July 2013,” saidAssistant FireChief Scott Neal about the need to upgrade the department radios.

The new ambulance, a 2010 Chevy, will be purchased from

Michigan First Response and housed at Fire Station 2 on MerrimanRoad.

It replaces a 2006 Ford Normal Duty Rescue that has approximate-ly 170,000 miles, and is equipped with a new tablet for electronic patient care reporting and advanced rescue tools for extrica-tion.

The cost of the vehicle, $165,382, was paid from the 2011-2012motor-pool budget. “This vehicle will be a valuable resource in providing a high level of customer service to the community,” said Mayor William R. Wild. “The technology, additional storage space for tools and higher weight capacity are vital components for our first responders to perform their job to the fullest capacity.” See Brooks, page 5